Frat or Fraternity
It’s an age-old debate which still rages on many college campuses. What is the proper way to refer to a group of like-minded individuals who subscribe to shared ideals for the public good? My answer to that question is “fraternity.” We are a fraternity of aspiring men who abide by truth, courage, faith and power. On some campuses, the shortened form of the word, “frat” still permeates the local language.
It should be noted the word, “frat” appears precisely zero times in our Constitution and Bylaws and Ritual. The word does not appear anywhere else in the approved anthology of our dear Fraternity.
For those still not persuaded, the world is full of reasons and examples of why the word Fraternity is superior to the word, “frat.” These are just a sampling.
Frat
- Worth seven points in a game of Scrabble.
- Urban dictionary: A group of immature boys who give fraternities a bad name.
- Word origin: early 19th century.
- Included in “Jeopardy” clues zero times.
- Foo Fighters songs named Frat: zero.
- First College Frat: Delta Tau Chi—founded at Faber College in 1979.
- Origin of the first time the word “frat” was used is unknown but scholars trace the word to somewhere within the Cal State system.
- Word “frat” occurs on www.totalfratmove.com 73,000 times.
Fraternity
- Worth 16 points in a game of Scrabble.
- Urban dictionary: Commonly mistaken as a “frat," a fraternity is a group of men who share a bond of brotherhood. (Most people cannot understand. It could be compared to a family.)
- Word origin: early 14th century.
- Included in “Jeopardy” clues 53 times.
- Foo Fighters songs named Fraternity: one.
- First college fraternity: Phi Beta Kappa—founded at the College of William & Mary, December 5, 1776.
- First fraternity is generally thought to be the Freemasons who begin to organize just prior to the year 1400.
- Word “fraternity” appears on www.totalfratmove.com 12,000 times.