The Other Nicknames of American Greek-Letter Organizations

Abstract

AbstractGreek sororities and fraternities in the United States have not one nickname, but two—the second being a sexually-embellished version of the first. These latter, “dirty”, nicknames have been created within a narrowlydefined set of sociocultural and linguistic rules, and, beyond revealing the usual adolescent preoccupation with sex, serve at least one important psycho-social function in the Greek socialization process, to bind !ogether members of a particular secondary group.