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Usually, the only people I run into who introduce themselves (socially) as Dr So-and-so, are medical doctors. To which I reply, "Oh, I'm Dr. WornDown." (I have a PhD in chemistry).

That shit annoys the hell out of me.

PhDs, not MDs, are the top of the academic pyramid.

IMO, it's the medical profession trying to gain legitimacy. Remember, just a little over a 100 years ago, physicians ("doctors") were largely untrained, and uncredentialed.

Medical journals are the only ones where you see the authors have their credentials (and the medical profession LOVES their credentials). That NEVER happens in the sciences (I don't think the humanities either)

Funny story:

When I first got custody of my son, he hadn't been in school for almost two years (long story). When I got him, it was just before he was to start 8th grade in the town I lived in. The guidance counselor set up a meeting at the start of school to discuss his education needs (he didn't need any, he just needed to go to school).

Any way...Turns out the principal's last name was the same as my first. The guidance counselor introduced her to me as Dr. X. (Education)

I was soooo tempted to say, So am I! But, I needed her cooperation, and didn't want to put in a bad mood....

Professor Doctor Bigger

...Yeah that's much better than Doctor Bigger which totally sounds like a Chippendale kind of name. You know, next on stage....

I was curious about this because I'm in the UK and I've got a couple of friends who are vets and they definitely don't call themselves doctor. Apparently, from 2015, they are now able to but it's a courtesy title only. My friends graduated long before then so that's probably why they don't use it.

It's a similar thing with dentists, doctor is only granted as a courtesy title and people are split over where they use it or not.

Weirdly, surgeons who are definitely doctors are never addressed as such and are always called Mr/Ms or any other honorific they may use.

It's a similar thing with dentists, doctor is only granted as a courtesy title and people are split over where they use it or not.

Interesting, dental school is much harder to get into than medical school here, too, like veterinary school.

As a previous poster noted, being a “dr” veterinarian is different in different countries. In the U.K. veterinarians are not titled as Dr.s. I should know, I was married to one. In the US they are because they actually have more education length wise. For both medicine and veterinary medicine in the U.K. you go straight into it after high school for a five year training but it’s not considered masters level.

We were married in the USA and all our wedding presents were addressed as Dr and Mrs. It was a bit embarrassing but my dad is a medical doctor and so they revere “the title.” Further in the U.K. if you’re a medical surgeon you get referred to as Mr or Mrs/Ms so you actually lose the Dr title. Also if you want to have MD after your name as a Dr you have to have more education. I never got to the bottom of what happens if you actually have a “title” as in Lord/Lady, Duke/Duchess what the reference would be professionally.

I’m from the South, and we are usually pretty big on respect.

My mother, when she was past 90 would call her doctors “Dr. Whatever”.

My PCP is a friend ...we attend the same church. But when I am in his office, I definitely call him Dr. Same for my dentist.

However, this thread is the first time I have heard of PTs being doctors. Could that be a regional thing?

When I was teaching at our university, my title was “assistant professor”. Absolutely no one called me either “Professor” or “Assistant Professor”. Probably because I told them to use my first name in the smaller classes, and “Ms. Right (hey...I like the way that sounds!) in the more formal classes.

However, if I was on university property, and ran into a friend who was a PhD, I would always address them as “Dr.”. Off campus… Who knows, maybe “butthead” or whatever was appropriate for how they were behaving!