AIBU - use of ‘Dr’ title - is this normal?!

[Cheesecake45]

Just not sure if I need to get with the times or not - is it normal to go by the title ‘Dr’ simply for having a PhD, if you aren’t in the medical profession? I’m talking one of the easiest PhDs to get (comparatively speaking), nothing vaguely linked to medicine.

AIBU??
YES = this is totally normal get over yourself
NO = wouldn’t be caught dead calling myself a doctor unless I could be assistance in a medical emergency!

Wow, your comments sound so ignorant. It’s a legitimate, earned title and in a setting where title is requested, why not use their title as stated? No one walks around demanding to be called Dr all the time. Ignoring someone because they tell you they are “Dr x” on paper is petty and shows that you are unaware of the meaning of the title.
Agree with all pps that it is also preferable to Miss/Mrs/Ms too for a woman.

I'd say it's perfectly fine and normal to use the title Dr. when you've met the accepted criteria to do so, absolutely nothing wrong with that whatsoever. You've earned the right to do so fair and square by doing something exceptional, and it's right that you receive recognition for it.

There was going to be the usual paragraphs of wit, sarcasm, and heartfelt advice in the space. I've spent over an hour staring at a blinking cursor trying to think of something to type though, and I've.. I've got nothing.

This has never happened before.

Doctor is fine though, use it if you want, don't use it if you don't want.

Fcuk.

I don’t know of anyone that actually does this despite all being professionals with PHDs! In our circles it would be viewed as being overly pretentious. Insecure even. Notably even our friends that have actual titles very rarely draw attention to it. It’s considered poor taste to be overt here anyway.

*PhD

I don't think we need them either but they exist, have never been 'limited' and 'Dr' has always been a legitimate option. Highlighting this particular passage as 'precisely my view' seems a little at odds with your previous posts 😬

The notion that ones 'preference' can be used as a justification to disparage, disrespect or even denigrate is as long standing as the use of 'Dr' as a legitimate form of address 🤷‍♀️

YABU. Anyone with a PhD can have a Dr. title regardless of their field.

I don’t think it is at odds with my previous posts? I posted, some time before your post:

”I agree that titles are weird at the best of times, and I wouldn’t limit my objections to those titles associated with academic achievement. Perhaps our sense of politeness still requires some basic titles to be used, but generally I find them archaic and elitist (yes, including Mrs).”

(by basic titles, I meant Mr, Ms or something neutral).

In Finland you get a top hat and a sword when you get awarded your PhD!

Why do medical doctors get called doctor anyway? Why isn't there a different word for them?

I hardly ever use it. In an academic context, its a given - if I'm giving a lecture or publicising a book, everyone I'm addressing will already know I have a PhD in the subject. Outside of an academic context its cringey. One of my best friends is a medical doctor and she never uses her title outside of work either (though I think that's partly because she doesn't want people to immediately start asking her for diagnoses/advice!).

Whilst technically correct
it’s a high level of twatiness if your not in the same circle as your peers wouldn’t you have to explain your not a medical doctor

just screams self importance to me

"Easiest" phds what is it OP, I'd love one especially if they're so easy to get??!!

Really cringey and really frowned upon in Corporate circles IME.

There are doctors who save lives.
There are doctors who at one point in their lives knew a lot about Jane Austen.

One of these people can use Dr whenever they like. I belong in the other category....

I'm a bit surprised at the ignorance about PhDs on here. People being scathing about "easy" PhDs for a start.

My DH and a lot of our friends have PhDs. Many are still in academia. The research they do or have done is really important in many different fields. They worked hard for the title and deserve to use it.

None of them would use it in a social context but on the whole when asked for their name in any formal context they would say Dr rather than Mr or Mrs. Similarly we have a few friends who are Rev - is that also pretentious?.

It feels like part of the dumbing down of our country. We should be encouraging education and research, not mocking it.

Everyone I know who has a PhD uses Dr. I don’t think it’s weird at all.

A lot of scientists are called doctor, I don’t think that’s unusual at all. One of my kids chemistry teachers was always referred to as Dr blah rather than Miss/Mrs Blah.

People use them for some professions (educational institutions and medical are the main ones), but otherwise not.

It’s not a ‘value judgement’. It’s a fact. I don’t have a PhD but people with them have earned the right to call themselves doctors. Why on earth wouldn’t they?

Well they are not medical doctors , no,but they are more qualified if anything.
People who work in education would certainly think of a PhD as a doctor.

Your first paragraph is correct, as is the first sentence of your second paragraph. However after that "in stead they have a Bachelor degree in Medicine and a second bachelor degree in surgery (MB BChir or MBBS), hence they need to go on to further training before qualifying as a practicing physician" is completely wrong.

Anyone who has completed their medical degree (in my case MB BCh) is qualified - it's registration+ licence by the GMC that allows us to practice as doctors. I am a medical consultant and I have postgraduate exams, none of which are PhD, but I have been "qualified as a practicing physician" since the first day I started working as a dr with my MB BCh. (according to https://hrsystems.admin.ox.ac.uk/highest-qualification-held is equivalent to Level 7 i.e. Master's).

I had a teacher at school with the title Dr. All the kids took the piss.

Probably depends on the school. The independent sector has a lot of teachers with PhDs; at DH's last school it was over 10%. They all use the title at school. I think some of DH's mail comes addressed to Dr as well. Apart from that, he goes by his first name! What are all these everyday situations where people are using titles?? My entire life is conducted on a first name basis.

It’s a very sad reflection on the school.

Unlike being a junior doctor???

I have a PhD but work in the NHS so don’t use it at work because it would be perceived as being a medical Dr. Took me 6 years to earn and I did have a spate of using it immediately afterwards so I think my Amazon deliveries are to Dr and I book flights using it (just in case the upgrade theory is true!). I have colleagues at work with PhDs who have Dr on their email signatures and in the context in which we work it is a little cringey.

I use mine as I’m an academic. Totally normal. Why wouldn’t it be? No weirder than using Mrs if you’re married.