Comments on: Is There a Doctor in the House?

By: Dodd

Dodd — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

I recall Isaac Asimov, in an introduction to one of his hard science pieces, relating a story of a woman who asked him if he was a "PhD doctor" or a "doctor doctor." He told her something to the effect that, insofar as a Medical Doctor had one of the applied sub-types of Doctorates, as opposed to PhD's who had the broader, original vintage kind, an MD was, by comparison, a "mere technician." I know of not one lawyer who, though possessed of a Juris Doctor, refers to him/herself as "Doctor," though technically we all could. Custom, more than anything else, leads to the notion that an MD is somehow more entitled to the honorific than a PhD. I'd say you all are entitled to be refered to by your well-earned honorifics. Of course, I'm also from the South, where the pretence of informality that has infested (debased?) the broader culture hasn't taken root in quite the same way as elsewhere, so....

By: Jalal Abu Jarhead

Jalal Abu Jarhead — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

My father is a Doctor of Divinity (honorary degree, Southern Baptist minister for over 50 years) and my brother has a PhD in Religious Studies.

Care to ask who I believe better deserves the honorific of "Doctor?"

Titles are always interesting, and are very dependent on context. My title is CTIC(SS/NAC) USN(Ret.). Very few people truly understand what that means outside of the people I worked with while in the Navy.

Context is everything.

By: jen

jen — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Some people worry about the stupidest things. Who cares if you use a title or not? If you earned the letters, use them or don't use them. If you earned a rank in the military, use it or don't use it. If you earned a position by election, use the title or don't use the title. I couldn't care less about this stuff. Good grief.

By: Little Miss Attila

Little Miss Attila — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

My problem with the explanatory material at the beginning of your blog is that there is no indefinite article at the beginning. It should be "A sardonic book editor . . ." Also, there should be no hard return after "officer," because that messes up the way this blurb appears on my screen--I end up with the word "officer" all by itself on one line. --Little Miss "Never Got My Bachelor's, But I'll Whip Your Copy-Editing Test's Ass" Attila

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

I originally had the blurb in a side column and was trying to squeeze it as much as possible.

Our publishing house farms most of the copyediting out to freelancers. Given how little we pay them, my guess is none of them have college degrees.

By: Little Miss Attila

Little Miss Attila — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

You fail to grasp the mentality of the dyed-in-the-wool English major, that species of which Lillian Hellman (I know, I know--but she was right about this) wrote: "they got poorer as they got more educated."

Most of my peers--my real peers, who ply their trade for the leading newspapers, magazine purveyors like Conde Nast, academic book publishers like the UC Press, institutions like The Getty Center--do, in fact, have degrees.

Of course, a few of 'em have trust funds, which helps them to work for peanuts and still survive.

By: Signifying Nothing

Signifying Nothing — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

More on titles
Steven Taylor has a followup tonight to my post on academic titles from a couple of days ago; James Joyner comments as well.

By: Arguing with signposts...

Arguing with signposts... — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

PhD, JD, MD It's "discuss the Dr." night in the house. James Joyner, Steven Taylor and Chris Lawrence navel-gaze about the pros and cons of using "Dr." if you are a PhD. They make their cases much better than I ever could. But...

By: PoliBlog

PoliBlog — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

One More on Titles
James Joyner adds to the discussion of titles and their relationship to expertise. He amplifies on my post yesterday and rightly notes a distinction that I had in mind whilst typing last night, but didnât make explicit:To be precise, we...

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