Academics using 'Dr' - wankerish?

[RevoltingPeasant]

On the day I got my PhD, the first thing my mum said to me when I rang to say I'd passed was, 'Oh, I do hope you won't call yourself Dr, it's so pretentious...

...and congratulations!'

Anywho, I never get called Dr except on my office door and in rejection letters from journals. But I think most academics do use it in civilian life. I kinda want to. Does this make me a smug git, especially because my subject specialism is in something entirely useless to humanity literature?

drhellinahandcart

yes really.
I just don't like people saying I am not a real doctor when I blatantly am.

its pretty rude IMO, you PhD Drs don't have the monopoly on working hard for your letters

what other doctor is there then - so you have a phd doctor and a medical doctor

is there another doctor or have i got wrong end of stick

custardo
I am a medical Dr and some posters suggested we shouldn't use Dr as we don't have a doctorate and therefore are not 'real' doctors.

there are just 2 types of Dr, medical and PhD I think

So pendeen if you called me Miss and I felt the need to point out, no actually I am married to a man and I require you to address me in a manner which makes that clear, you wouldn't have a problem, but if I said, no actually I am not Miss I am Dr, I have a qualification which gives me an official title and that is my actual title, you'd think I was a wanker?

That's weird. So women can get uppity about their marital status not being acknowledged, but their intellect is just wanky?

personally i'd far rather be acknowledged for my intellect than my marital status!

oh eye see! righto. well i think there are enough doctors to go round

so if a medical doctor got a phd you could legit - be doctor doctor - and if your surname was doctor you could be doctor doctor doctor

awesome

depends on who you're married to

'are you ms custardo?'
"I am Mrs Skarsgard ashually'

Thinking I think the PP who said that was being tongue in cheek....?

I guess one reason I have been reluctant to use the Dr is because I've assumed medics would be snotty/ weird about it (have lots of contact with them at the moment ). I suppose that annoys me a bit, as I think people with both sorts of degrees work hard and do Useful Things, but no one would ever think a medic was odd for using Dr in everyday life, and yet seemingly for PhDs, it is seen as snobbish. That's all.

Congrats! Am a post grad student alongside working as a psych nurse and you should be 'out and proud'. Regarding criticism of you using your rightful title-as rightful as 'Reverend' or medical Doctor;

Unsolicited criticism always says more about the person giving it than it does about the person on the end of it.

Step aside from your response to gain insight into their motives.

it's usually envy, jealousy, ignorance or inferiority.

Tall poppies will always risk having their 'heads' cut off by some resentful other.

Ahoy there, Brigadier!

hmm admiral eh?

I've been promoted by myself.

nothing wrong with ambition

I don't think it's wankerish to use Dr. (At least I hope not!) But correcting someone who doesn't address you as Dr does seem to me wankerish. So does the phenomenon I have seen on popular self-help books, particularly in the US, where the book author puts "PhD" after their name on the front cover. As in: "How to Achieve Happiness and Everything You Want in Seven Easy Steps. By Dr Johnny Wanker, PhD". What is amusing is that half the time, on those kind of books, the author's PhD is in a completely different field to the actual topic of the book. But who cares -- it's a PhD!

Am happy to have a chance to link to

this favourite cartoon.

EFA, what title do you use?

Seriously. Because this is the third time of asking. And I could just about get on board with you being a MS who always addresses other women as Ms, or a Mr who does the same, and who feels that using Dr is an opt-out of the feminist cause. But as long as you're not saying, you just sound quite chippy about the fact that other people who are better qualified than you using their official title.

So, EFA, what title do you use? And I will be continuing to ask this until you answer.

marfisa but- and I say again- why??? Someone addresses you as 'Mrs'. You are not a 'Mrs', you have never been a Mrs- they are using a completely incorrect title- do you correct them to 'Ms' rather than 'Dr'? For what purpose?

If it were on socialist egalitarian principles, I could get behind it. But I somehow don't think it is.

check you out elaine with your socialist egalitarian principles you pretentious make-believe heart surgeon you!

I am a heart surgeon! I am! Give me the best seats on a plane, damn you, or else who is going to explain Mary Barton to you if the worst comes to the worst?

My PhD's not actually about bricks by the way.

It's far shitter than that.

What if I promise never to use it again unless I meet EFA in the flesh? The irony would be nice!

A friend of mine did a PhD about sheep shit.

Mine did mention cow urine at one point.