PBK (was Sorting Hat mystery )

[dfrankis at dial.pipex.com]

Lisa wrote:
 (quoting Amy Z) Okay, here's an example:  no one ever told me that 
there 
> was a secret Phi Beta Kappa handshake, much less revealed it.  Not 
as 
> exciting as a Sorting Hat, I grant you, but it's the same basic 
> idea.>>
> 
> Must really say "Damn!"  There's a PBK secret handshake?  Blast it, 
> I'm *in* Phi Beta Kappa -- though I've been too stingy to pay my 
dues 
> lately.  Even so:  I, or the professors in regalia, must have been 
> zoning on the day of the induction.  *puts hands on hips*  Right 
> then, I'm going to have to find a PBKer in the know, now.


OK, so we've had endless discussions about the UK (actually mostly 
English) education system.  Here's a question the other way.

What *is* all this with phi beta kappa?  I think of it vaguely as 
going along with frats, hazing, summa cum laude and any other bits of 
Latin and Greek that seem to pop up in the US college system.

David, confused