The Eternal Breakfast Debate in a New Place

[AuntDaisy]

(I have Dr on my bank cards to inspire confidence in the people I'm paying. No point changing after I stopped teaching). One thing I hate is the title Doctor rather than Dr. Who addresses anyone as Mister or (what?) Missus? As in Me and the missus? Doctorates are ten a penny now anyway. They give them away in the Co-op if you buy 3 easy meals,

Do they offer 10% discount on Tuesdays? E.g. throw in a free Masters...

[french frank]

Clearly the form of address is designed to denote the medical authority required to curate a programme of such lofty, therapeutic ambition!

(I have Dr on my bank cards to inspire confidence in the people I'm paying. No point changing after I stopped teaching). One thing I hate is the title Doctor rather than Dr. Who addresses anyone as Mister or (what?) Missus? As in Me and the missus? Doctorates are ten a penny now anyway. They give them away in the Co-op if you buy 3 easy meals,

[Sir Velo]

But those trailers - especially for the anodyne pap of Classical Unwind perpetrated by "Dr. Sian Williams" (who except the terminally insecure would insist, like this one does, on the "Dr." in this context?) - are the limit.

Clearly the form of address is designed to denote the medical authority required to curate a programme of such lofty, therapeutic ambition!

[Ein Heldenleben]

... I think it's also appropriate within the academical community for professional academics to have their doctorates acknowledged - for professional porpoises only, though. Plus the occasional honorary one - Dr Johnson, Dr Burney. And possibly ecclesiastics. But certainly not in this case

I deleted my original post so this excerpted sentence doesn’t make sense without it. I deleted it because it’s just not worth writing about but to summarise I think it’s misleading to use the title Doctor in any field that has a medical element. It’s perfectly ok to use the title doctor in an academic context where it might be important professionally . Mark Porter is a medically qualified doctor (specifically he is a Bachelor of Medicine ). He also is a practising GP. Quite a few medical doctors do not use the title when they give up their licence to practise ,

[vinteuil]

Mister Jones could of course have been a consultant (though unlikely to be working at the GP surgery!).

... my first vacation employment was as a hospital porter at a London hospital - I was firmly put in my place when I made the awful gaffe of addressing the surgeon operating on my first night at work as "Dr Kates" rather than the much grander "Mr Kates"

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Kates+A&cauthor_id=6037570

.

[Pulcinella]

A colleague of a friend who taught in secondary school, and who had a doctorate (probably in Eng Lit) used to delight in announcing himself to the surgery receptionist on arriving for his doctor's appointment by saying Doctor Smith to see Mister Jones.

Mister Jones could of course have been a consultant (though unlikely to be working at the GP surgery!).

[kernelbogey]

Holders of PhD and other doctorates gained by research/thesis/examination might disagree. Most medical doctors in the UK use the Dr prefix as a courtesy title. A minority have an MD (obtained by additional study/research) as well as the Bachelor of Medicine* primary degree....

A colleague of a friend who taught in secondary school, and who had a doctorate (probably in Eng Lit) used to delight in announcing himself to the surgery receptionist on arriving for his doctor's appointment by saying Doctor Smith to see Mister Jones.

[oddoneout]

I don't disagree, was just sayin'...


...I personally have no axe to grind as I am a mere Batchelor.

As am I ,but I do remember a couple of occasions at school where the fact that my father's title was Dr. caused a bit of confusion when I said no he wasn't a GP...

[Old Grumpy]

... I still think it a bit naff to use such doctorates unless still in academia.

My stepson has PhD in engineering from Imperial, but has left that kind of life and wouldn't dream of using the title ; his wife has a DPhil from Oxford in English Literature and is now an academic at Edinburgh University, her title as Dr **** is part of that world.

I don't disagree, was just sayin'...


...I personally have no axe to grind as I am a mere Batchelor.

[Old Grumpy]

Or in an attempt to give authority/credence to what they write/say, Doctor Mark Porter and Doctor Miriam Stoppard (what happened to her), with the emphasis on Doctor being two examples?

On one of the rare occasions I've been stopped by police and asked who I was, when I replied not using my title (PhD in Chemistry), I was given a quizzical look and told that their records (presumably my driving licence) showed that I was a doctor. I explained that I customarily didn't use it, and we fell to chatting as it turned out that the policeman's son was at that time studying for a PhD. (I'd been stopped after having been followed for a few miles having inadvertently got lost in the red light district of Birmingham, and probably looking like I was cruising!)

[vinteuil]

Holders of PhD and other doctorates gained by research/thesis/examination might disagree...

... I still think it a bit naff to use such doctorates unless still in academia.

My stepson has PhD in engineering from Imperial, but has left that kind of life and wouldn't dream of using the title ; his wife has a DPhil from Oxford in English Literature and is now an academic at Edinburgh University, her title as Dr **** is part of that world.

[LMcD]

Or in an attempt to give authority/credence to what they write/say, Doctor Mark Porter and Doctor Miriam Stoppard (what happened to her), with the emphasis on Doctor being two examples?

On one of the rare occasions I've been stopped by police and asked who I was, when I replied not using my title (PhD in Chemistry), I was given a quizzical look and told that their records (presumably my driving licence) showed that I was a doctor. I explained that I customarily didn't use it, and we fell to chatting as it turned out that the policeman's son was at that time studying for a PhD. (I'd been stopped after having been followed for a few miles having inadvertently got lost in the red light district of Birmingham, and probably looking like I was cruising!)

When Therese Coffey was our MP, I suggested that constituents who were dissatisfied with the NHS should contact her because she was a Doctor (which she was ... of Chemistry - a detail which I inexplicably failed to mention).

[Pulcinella]

Holders of PhD and other doctorates gained by research/thesis/examination might disagree. Most medical doctors in the UK use the Dr prefix as a courtesy title. A minority have an MD (obtained by additional study/research) as well as the Bachelor of Medicine* primary degree.

*Or other variant depending on where they studied as an undergraduate.

Or in an attempt to give authority/credence to what they write/say, Doctor Mark Porter and Doctor Miriam Stoppard (what happened to her), with the emphasis on Doctor being two examples?

On one of the rare occasions I've been stopped by police and asked who I was, when I replied not using my title (PhD in Chemistry), I was given a quizzical look and told that their records (presumably my driving licence) showed that I was a doctor. I explained that I customarily didn't use it, and we fell to chatting as it turned out that the policeman's son was at that time studying for a PhD. (I'd been stopped after having been followed for a few miles having inadvertently got lost in the red light district of Birmingham, and probably looking like I was cruising!)

[Old Grumpy]

Originally posted by Ein Heldenleben
It’s absolutely right for a qualified medical Doctor to use the title but that’s it.

Holders of PhD and other doctorates gained by research/thesis/examination might disagree. Most medical doctors in the UK use the Dr prefix as a courtesy title. A minority have an MD (obtained by additional study/research) as well as the Bachelor of Medicine* primary degree.

*Or other variant depending on where they studied as an undergraduate.

[vinteuil]

It’s absolutely right for a qualified medical Doctor to use the title but that’s it.

... I think it's also appropriate within the academical community for professional academics to have their doctorates acknowledged - for professional porpoises only, though. Plus the occasional honorary one - Dr Johnson, Dr Burney. And possibly ecclesiastics. But certainly not in this case