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Soldato
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Well considering they have worked for years to achieve a phd or higher doctorate, they might as well actually call themselves doctors. People deserve recognition for their achievements. You can't seriously expect people who have got a phd to use the title Mr. instead of Dr. as if they should be ashamed of it, just because people in the uk wrongly associate doctor with a medical doctor.
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I have nothing against them putting PhD at the end of their name just like you'd put Ba, Bsc etc.
I was very close to doing a PhD myself, but decided to do a BVC instead - at the conclusion to it I certainly wasn't planning to put anything but PhD at the end of my name if that (I don't put my degree now nor will I put my masters in a few months time after my name).
its medics who are being pompous tbh...
most of them just have undergraduate bachelors degrees - they assume an honorary title of 'Doctor' due to the status of their profession - 'Doctor' as an academic title deriving from the Latin for 'teacher' has been around for 1000 years - physicians have been around for about 400 or so.
PhDs actually do have doctorates - a PhD in physics is a 'Doctor' regardless of what he/she then peruses as a career - someone who graduates from a 5 year course in medicine and then decides to not become a physician has no right to call themselves 'Doctor' - it is simply an honorary title conferred on them by their professional body - those who chose to become surgeons and then come under the Royal College of Surgeons drop the 'Dr' and revert back to 'Mr' for historical reasons (homage to the barber surgeons).
Some medics do actually have doctorates but chances are your local GP doesn't have one - for him/her it is simply an honorary title they aren't actually 'Doctors'
for a PhD it isn't pompous at all
Joe Bloggs PhD is either addressed as 'Joe' or 'Dr Bloggs' - using 'Mr Bloggs' is just incorrect
I wonder what would happen if the professional associations representing say accountants decided to confer the honourary title of 'Dr' upon their members.
If it became popular we'd probably get ignorant people saying "So are you a 'real' doctor who practices in finance or are you one of those medical or academic types?" or "If people don't work in auditing then I think they should clarify things and say 'but not one of those doctors' " etc...
If it became popular we'd probably get ignorant people saying "So are you a 'real' doctor who practices in finance or are you one of those medical or academic types?" or "If people don't work in auditing then I think they should clarify things and say 'but not one of those doctors' " etc...
Professore sounds great. I want to be Professore N9ne
Haha, same, touching even more wood, I'll be MBBS BMedSci in about a couple of years.
What's AICSM? Something to do with your intercalated degree?
Firstly, was there really any reason to post twice, one after the other?
Secondly, your implication that it is 'ignorant people' who hold my view is an ad hominem and farcical argument. I wont stoop to the level of returning personal insults with you and will thus ignore that particular comment.
Medical doctors have been referred to as 'doctor' since at least 1377. It is not a modern alteration of the word nor is it one born out of confusion of the word's original meaning. To claim that the meaning of words does not evolve, and doggedly attach original meaning to current usage, is to misconstrue the purpose of etymology in its entirety.
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Yes they are.
You can be as pedantic as you wish, and go back as far into history as you wish, but today, no one will regard a doctor of medicine as having an 'honorary' title.
erm no - they don't generally have doctorates
they have, technically, two degrees Bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery - MB BS or other variations
these are undergraduate qualifications - they are not doctorates
Soldato
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You're fighting a losing battle. I've had this discussion with friends and colleagues for years.
Physicians actually see themselves as "doctors" so it is a losing battle.
I'm not saying that physicians aren't referred to as 'Doctors' - my sister is a medic as are plenty of my friends. I'm just arguing that the typical POV from the man in the street that medics somehow have more right to the title than people with actual doctorates or that a non medic with a doctorate using the title is being somehow pompous is a fairly ignorant position.
Academics have been using the title since before the medical profession was even established here and continue to do so today, they have every right to it. The general medical council also confers the title on registered medical practitioners so naturally most 'Doctors' Joe public encounter in their daily lives are GPs etc.. This doesn't mean that PhDs are being in anyway pompous when they use their title they've got as much justification(if not more tbh...) to use the title as a medic has.
FWIW in Germany the only people with the title are holders of actual Doctorates.