Anyone with Greek Life on their campus knows that sometimes it can seem like those people are speaking an entirely different language.

Before I joined a sorority, I know that if someone asked me if I was an active or pledge I would have asked them if everything was OK up there. I would like to apologize on behalf of all sorority sisters/fraternity brothers for our weird jargon, and to make up for it I’ve made a guide of some basic words and phrases to help our little independent friends out.

Recruitment

It can be argued that this is the time of year when our weird little language comes out even more than usual.

Informally referred to as “rush,” recruitment is arguably one of the most important weeks of the year for us. It’s when we spend countless hours talking to PNMs (Potential New Member) until we can finally send out bids to the great group of girls we can’t wait to welcome into our chapter.

A bid is an invitation to join a chapter at the end of recruitment. If accepted, the brand new pledge gets to meet their new chapter at their house for one big party that we call Bid Day.

Once you join

As I mentioned before, once you accept your bid you become a “pledge” until your initiation. During this new member period, you usually get paired up as a "Big" and "Little."

A Big is an older member whose job is to be your older sister, mentor and just an all-around friend who you can go to for anything. It helps make the transition into Greek life much easier by giving you someone to help you along the way.

At the end of the new member period is your initiation. It's a secret ceremony (not as weird as it sounds, I promise) that is different for each chapter. By going through initiation, you have now become an active member, marked by wearing your badge.

An active member is basically someone who has fully initiated into the chapter and is a full member.

A badge is a little pin, usually with our letters on it, that we wear over our left shoulder to chapter meetings.

The fun part

It can be argued that everything about being in Greek Life is fun, but everyone knows that there are some parts that everyone enjoys more than others. One of the favorites is socials. Throughout the semester, fraternities and sororities pair up to host socials. They're a time to mingle with other chapters and just have an all-around good time.

They’re usually themed, because us Greeks just love our themes, and some of the fan favorites have been high school stereotypes, jersey and country. We also host formals too, which are basically an excuse to keep the school dance thing going, even though we're all (supposedly) adults now.

All things Frat

Fraternities are their own world and can seem foreign even to the srattiest of sisters. There’s a lot of crossover in terminology, but sometimes the same words mean very different things between fraternities and sororities.

A composite is a big picture frame displaying everyone in the chapter that is apparently "just begging to be stolen" by Chad, Brad or Kyle.

A pledge is an uninitiated member who is ready at the beck and call of any older members to do whatever they need for them, whether that be cleaning up after last night's party or just buying groceries for Jake because he said so.

Lastly, rush is a couple of weeks when frats throw parties in order recruit potential members and basically dude flirt with Chase until you can offer him a bid.