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?

Yes, use it if you have earned it- should I ever manage to acquire a PhD I certainly will! Although the fact my name would be the same as Benny Hill's character in the Italian Job would be a prime motivaoor, especially as I used to show minis in my youth

Although as the ds (can't recall which one, but he would have been about 6) said to the Dr or Theology next door- 'you ain't a dr, you haven't got a tardis'

LMAO

IMO its worth all that work for a PhD alone just so I would't have to be "Mrs. DP's Surname" as that IS my MiL.

YANBU. it's a fact. There's far too much reverse snobbery and jealousy around. Be proud of your achievements.

I'd say it was a tad wankerish, but the kind of proud wankerishness that you are entitled to on first getting your PhD. Its a bit like being forgivably PFB about a qualification. Most academic doctors I know don't do it. I'd do it to avoid the whole Miss/Mrs/Ms idiocy on forms but not otherwise.

On online forms I always tick the box that gives me the highest status -- Baroness CalatalieSisters etc.

I would, but mainly because of the Mrs/Ms thing. DH has one and doesn't use it socially, uses it for work, he is in industry not academia but it is highly relevant. It is on his credit cards etc I think though.

I used to know a PhD who called himself Dr Important PhD, could never take on board that he only needed one or the other.

I have a PhD and (bucking the trend here) don't use Dr, because it does feel like showing off. Kind of 'hello, I'm Dr. Nightlark, would you like to know how many degrees I have?'. But then I have tragically low self-esteem.

Damnbamboo, thank you for that newsflash! Wow you really know your stuff! lol.

Surgeons, I think, are called Mr/Ms because originally it wasn't a university-trained profession, but stemmed from a craft/artisan tradition, of which they were proud, and so differentiated themselves from physicians, who were all, in the middle ages, postgraduates (and hence MD), and so had the title Doctor by qualification, not occupation.

And congratulations! I use mine, if asked, as it avoids the Mrs/Ms/Miss thing. And it was a lot of work...

Am sniggering at "proud wankerishness" as though there are degrees of it.

I wonder what "The Doctor" has a PhD in?

I use Dr (PhD) if any title is required. Would your mum think it pretentious if you were a man? I suspect not .

Btw, I kinda made it sound like I am a newly minted PhD - actually I have had it for 6 years and just need something to cheer me up these days!

I think for the most part it's fine but not always. I would be a total and utter knob end to call myself Dr as I now work in a field that has absolutely no connection with my PhD and is traditionally thought of as a 'no qualifications required' job. I'm now a nursery nurse and it would be beyond ridiculous to call myself Dr Megatron. Though I kinda like the sound of that.

DrRevoltingPeasant

Thought of another good reason for DH using it - when telesales people call and ask for Mr Forgetting I can say 'sorry, no-one of that name her'

I wonder what "The Doctor" has a PhD in?
Timey Wimey Studies, isn't it?

WhoKnows - now that is wankerish! Unless you're in a medical field, when I guess it's important to distinguish yourself from MDs, 'Dr such-and-such PhD' screams 'arse' louder than anything else . . . Gillian McKeith does it, after all, which tells you all you need to know.

You earned it- they don't just hand Phds out to anyone! Use it.

It's not pretentious. Good grief.

Medics can do an MD, then they are Dr Doctor!

Dunno, Megatron, be one in the eye of the people who assume that nursery nurse are, by definition, thick and barely qualified to wipe their own arses.

I do sometimes enjoy answering 'Can I speak to Dr Nome' with 'which one?'

Hmm, well, I certainly know enough not to be swayed either way by someone's title.

Oh yeah, and I'd only do it for forms and when I am asked for a title - not going to introduce myself to the neighbours that way. I do also work in academia.

This is all prompted because we are getting a mortgage account and I have to put a title on the applicaiton and just thought hm....

Dr Megatron is ace, I think you should call yourself that instead of your real name.

I thought I remembered you being fairly well established (namechanger here)! Cheers anyway, Dr Peasant. I might take a tip from you and celebrate my own all over again, as I'm currently slaving over the manuscript of the book of the thesis.

I agree that I wouldn't use it at work in an irrelevant field, though would love to use a nursery staffed by DrMegatron. Really, one very rarely needs a title at all. If nobody ever asked me for it, I'd never offer it.