Doctor Title Debate

What's the point of getting a PhD if people don't call you DR?

I don't hold any degree which is connected to the title 'Doctor' at all. But I have to respond to one of your points, that you take issue with people who wish to use the title 'Doctor' when they aren't medical doctors.The term itself comes from the Latin 'docere' - to teach - and goes back to before the first European universities. The title of Doctor for physicians and surgeons is much more recent, and was actually a status-elevating maneuver. Even tod

PhD is a degree, professor is a title, two different things.

When you go to the doctors, the title "doctor" is a "customary title". They don't hold doctorates.You'll notice that surgeons are usually called "mister".Perhaps it stems from how the two professions arose. In ye olden days, a lot of surgery was performed by barbers.So when people ask if someone is a "real" doctor, their actual understanding is the wrong way around. In their minds, the words "Philosophy" in PhD somehow means th

Do you consider doctor (MD or PhD) to be similarly ridiculous, or do you make a distinction?

But "Doctor" means you have an actual PhD, a doctorate. That's a worthy title, IMHO

This is interesting honorific, many tech sector workers have doctor degrees, but nobody ever calls them doctors.But curiously it is used in the title, which doesn't follow HN title guidelines (i.e. editiorized from original article title).

That’s bonkers! Doctor was originally a title for academics before medics borrowed it. I think medics without an MD or PhD shouldn’t be using the title. What country is that in?

Whether a PhD is considered a doctor is a cultural thing. In Germany for example, "doctor" simply implies a PhD/MD or similar (and in fact calling yourself one without a matching degree would be criminally fraudulent) -- although that seems to be changing thanks to the influence of American media and less emphasis on titles (and likely not least because of a large number of politicians having been revealed to have cheated to get their degrees).Other than that I agree.

It's not pedantic. People are specifically asked by universities not to refer to themselves as doctors when given honorary degrees. This is entirely different from calling someone by their name. Please don't try to manipulate the situation here.