"Their Sorority Has A First Name" Chants (based on Oscar Meyers' "My Bologna Has A First Name" Ad)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post features examples of dissing (insult) chants/songs from historically Black (African American) Greek letter sororities and from predominately White Greek letter sororities that are adaptations of Oscar Meyers' "My bologna has a first name" advertisement jingle. A video of that 1974 ad is also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural and folkloric purposes.

Any copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those whose organization's chants are quoted in this post.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube.

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
"PWI" (Predominately White Institutions) is the acronym that is commonly used to refer to institutions (in this case, university/college based Greek letter fraternities and sororities) which historically prohibited Black people and other People of Color from becoming members. For the most part, these organizations remain predominately White.

"BGLO" (Black Greek Letter Organizations) is the acronym that is commonly used to refer to university/college based Greek letter organizations that historically and present day are predominately Black.

I'm particularly interested in documenting how certain predominately White sorority/fraternity (PWIs) chants/songs and some historically Black Greek letter sorority/fraternity (BGLOs) chants are the same or similar. As is the case with most of the similar/same chants/songs, I'm not sure whether Bglos or Pwis were the first to chant adaptations of the "My Bologna has a first name" ad jingle.

I consider fraternity & sorority chants and vernacular to be cultural artifacts which deserve to be collected, preserved, and studied. That said, I also believe that fraternity & sorority songs and chants should only be recited and/or performed by those persons who are affiliated with the specific organization that is associated with that particular chant.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO: Oscar Mayer Commercial -1973



ddrower Uploaded on Jan 20, 2007

This is the one with the cute kid fishing. He sings the song, "My bologna has a first name, it's O-s-c-a-r. My bologna has a second name, it's M-a-y-e-r."
-snip-
This advertisement actually first aired in 1974 and not 1973. Here's information about this ad from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Mayer

The Oscar Mayer Company is an American meat and cold cut production company, owned by Kraft Heinz. It is known for its hot dogs, bologna, bacon, ham and Lunchables products"...

A 1974 TV commercial featured four-year-old Andy Lambros holding a fishing rod and sandwich while singing, "My bologna has a first name, it's 'O-S-C-A-R'...".[4][5] It became one of the longest-running TV commercials in the country.[6]"

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TWO EXAMPLES OF "MY SORORITY HAS A FIRST NAME" FROM HISTORICALLY BLACK SORORITIES
(Bglos- Black Greek Letter Organizations)

(These examples are posted based on their publishing date/their date of retrieval).

Example #1: THEIR SORORITY HAS A FIRST NAME
Their Sorority has a first name
(it's A-L-P-H-A)
Their Sorority has a second name
(it's K-A-P-PA)
Their Sorority has a third name
(it's A-L-P-H-A)
THEIR SORORITY, AS YOU CAN SEE, ACCEPTS THE REJECTS OF DST!
-Guest,OO-OOP; http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=103135, Fraternity & Sorority Chants & Songs; 1/3/2010
-snip-
This version of this chant is from Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. "DST" is the initials for Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. "OO-OOP" is Delta Sigma Theta Sorority's signature call.

Read Example #2 for an adaptation of the Oscar Meyers' ad from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority's point of view.

Note that among the university based African American (Greek lettered) sororities, DST (Deltas Sigma Theta, Inc, also known as the "Deltas") and AKA (Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc. have a history that has created a rather contentious rivalry.

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Example #2 - THEIR SORORITY HAS A FIRST NAME
"[Sung to the Oscar Meyers song]

Their Sorority has a first name
Its d-e-l-t-a
Their sorority has a second name
Its s-i-g-m-a
Their sorority has a third name
Its t-h-e-t-a
Cuz dst has a way of accepting rejects of AKA"
- Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Epsilon Sigma chapter, http://orgs.tamu-commerce.edu/esig1908/chants.htm [Retrieved 3/7/2010; website no longer active]

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EXAMPLES FROM PREDOMINATELY WHITE SORORITIES
(PWIs- Predominately White Institutions)

(These examples are given in chronological order based on their publishing date with the oldest example given first.)

Example #1:
From http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=23958
FuzzieAlum, 09-24-2002
Location: Nashville
..."the chant that really sticks in my head:

My sorority has a first name
It's A L P H A
My sorority has a last name
It's D E L T A
The middle name is hard you see
It's spelled X I pronounced K-zeeeeeeeeeeeee
A L P H A X I, D E L T A Buh-bye!"
-snip-
Alpha Xi Delta Sorority is known as Alpha Xi.
Some other commenters wrote that XI isn’t always pronounced "K-zee".

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Example #2:
From http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=23958&page=2
SoProud2BeAnAlphaXi, 09-24-2002
..."my favorite goodbye song is Alpha Xi's, to the Oscar Mayer bologna tune:

My sorority has a first name
It's A-L-P-H-A
My sorority has a last name
It's D-E-L-T-A
The middle name is hard you see
It's spelled X-I, pronounced Ka-zee
A-L-P-H-A-X-I
D-E-L-T-A, goodbye!"

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Example #3:
From http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=23958&page=3
DolphinChicaDDD, 06-14-2003
..."I love the Oscar Myer song that we have too-

My soroity has a first name, its D-E-L-T-A
My sorority has a second name, its D-E-L-T-A
So if you want cute girls galoe,
come on knockin on our door
Cause genetleman prefer to say
they date a D-E-L-T-A

For chapters that actually have a house, they said 'Come on knockin at {insert number of house here} door'
We also have some not nice ones, in response to some mean ones on our campus...but then agian, who doesn't"

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Example #4
From http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=5369&page=4
greyhoundrescue, 08-10-2008
..."my last year, a sister and i made up our own, to the tune of "My bologna has a fist name":
My sorority has a first name, it's D-E-L-T-A
My sorority has a second name, it's G-A-M-M-A
Oh, I'd love to pledge it every day,
And if you as me why, I'll say--
'Cause Delta Gamma has a way with G-R-E-E-K!"...
-snip-
This commenter also gave examples of the Oscar Meyers jingle "Oh I wish I was an Oscar Meyer wiener".

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