There are two meanings or uses of the word "doctor". One is basically as a synonym for the profession of physician while the other is used as a title for holders of certain degrees with the title "Doctor" in it. As a matter of courtesy we address physicians as Dr. Smith and so forth. But I've been wondering whether that is apt in non-professional social situations. If a person with a PhD introduced himself as "Dr" in a social situation, he would seem pompous. Yet somehow a physician could introduce himself as "Dr" in the same situation and not seem pompous. Why should that be?
Because generally, when people hear the word "doctor" they think of a physician and physicians generally are respected by society as a default (probably because physicians serve the health and well-being of society). When a person learns that the "doctor" is only so because of college degrees, they feel deceived and they feel that this person is just thoroughly educated and not necessarily worthy of the respect that a physician is. With that in mind, it seems as if the well-educated person is using the term "doctor" as a tool to gain respect from their peers, which, in turn, seems cheap and sleazy and frequently ends up with the opposite result.
Technically, "Dr." is incorrect for a person with a PhD. The more appropriate title is (Person's Name), PhD. One of my roomates in college had a father who would only allow us to call him "Dr." (he was a medical doctor). He was an ass. I always said "Mr." because I found it ridiculous for him to demand it from everyone in the world. But, yeah, they can generally get away with it because it is seen as more descriptive and more of a status thing that is not equated with PhD's. One time growing up my sister made reservations for us at a nice restaurant where we usually got a bad table. She made the reservation under "Dr." (my father has a PhD) and suddenly we got a great table.
I dunno, to me anyone using a title in a social setting seems pompous regardless of whether they are physicians or PhDs. If you are in a social settling and calling yourself "Dr Smith", even if you are a physician, how is that different than someone calling himself "Lawyer Smith" or some such in such a settling?
I got hit by a church van in a parking lot one time, basically some man was using the van to drive to and from work. So the pastor calls me to say that the church would like to take care of any charges I incurred from the wreck. The weird thing was he kept referring to himself as "Dr" , and was noticeably annoyed and even corrected me once when I only used Mr. I found the whole thing strange, I'm like your a pastor not a doctor. Must be a black thing, ya know Dr Matin Luther King and Reverend Jesse Jackson, is it customary to refer to all AA ministers as Dr now?
I've never heard that. I've often seen and heard people with PhDs called Dr. This is what I was talking about. I call a person Dr but not really as some "title of respect" but more as a "professional title". IOW, its just like when I call a policeman, Officer Smith not Mr Smith in an official capacity. But if policeman Smith insisted on being called Officer Smith in a non-professional context it would be silly. Yet somehow physicians "get away" with doing this although I think it no less pompous and crass.
That is in a professional context. In a social context do you introduce yourself as Wangdoodle, esq or Lawyer Wangdoole? I assume not. But physicians do it all the time in these same non-professional settings. It seems pompous to me.
I have a sister in law that recently got her PhD in something silly like Elizabethian Poetry or the like. Now, she insists that everyone call her Dr but I refuse because I just think it's silly. Tell you what....If I'm in your Elizabethian Poetry class, I'll call you Dr, if not, I won't. Savvy?
Many, many churches want their pastors to have doctorates from seminary now. It has nothing to do with the race of the pastor.
While I won't say a PhD in Elizabethan Poetry or any other area of humanities is silly, I do agree with your point. But why do we not apply the same standard to physicians?
It is correct and customary to call PhD's Dr. or Professor. Didn't any of you go to college? Did you call your professors Mr. or Ms.? No, you called them Dr., or at least I did. It takes a whole lotta work to become a PhD. I'm a lawyer (Doctor of Jurisprudence) but no one ever calls me Dr. Serious Black. No matter how much I beg, no matter how much I call my fellow JDs doctor, none of them will call me doctor. It is just not customary, but for PhDs, it is different. Maybe because it is a lot harder to get a PhD than it is to get a JD. Now when someone is choking on a chicken bone and someone else yells "Is there a doctor in the house?" I do not think they are looking for a doctor in Russian Literature...
Well, he does have a Juris Doctorate, which means that he's a doctor, right? When my gf gets out of med school, I am totally doing the "Dr." trick to get her a better table. Probably the only thing we'll be using it for outside of her practice.
OK, OK, I don't really think the degree itself is 'silly', it's just that I don't like my sister in law. Like someone else said, physicians have a different standard, I think, because they help people. That being said, I just won't call anyone "Dr" unless they are MY Dr. My best friend has 2 children, so he is a Dad. His children call him Dad. I don't call him Dad because he's not my Dad.
I suppose a holder of a JD could be called a "doctor", but one of the main reasons it isn't is because until very recently, the JD degree used to be called the LLB (bachelor of law) degree. Then for prestige reasons, they decided to rename the degree as a JD to be on par with the MD. People who held LLBs could exchange theirs for a JD in fact for a small fee.
