In Brazil, lawyers are entitled to be called Doutor(Doctor) even if they only have a bachelor’s degree.
This comes from a law edited by D. Maria I, the crazy, queen of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves, in the early XIX century. The law was never cancelled, so the costume persists.
As for military titles, a colonel is called colonel SGT42 and a general, General SGT42. But when signing a document, they should write:
SGT42, Cel
Gen SGT42
Colonel is a grade, while General is a title.
In Italy all graduates from a bachelors degree are referred to as a “dottore” or “dottoressa”.
On a internet form there was a drop down for titles such as Dr. as you entered your name. One of the drop downs was MBA.
Actually, in other than a Medical profession (which includes Dentists, Vets, etc) pretty much calling yourself “Doctor” because you have a PhD is a mark of douchebaggery. To some extent college professors are given a pass on this, and in some churches a Th.D is properly called “Doctor”.
“To some extent”? In the United States, it’s assumed that a college professor will be addressed as “doctor.” It’s a rare faculty member who doesn’t have a Ph.D. In law school, the default is “professor,” because law degree holders don’t use “doctor.”
" I didn’t spend six years in Evil Medical School to be called “mister,” thank you very much"
Dr Evil
From what I’ve seen and heard, this is something that varies from one college/university to another. It’s up to the local culture and tradition of each institution how their faculty are commonly referred to—as Dr. ____ or Prof. ____ or Mr./Ms. ____ or whatever.
My experience is 20 years old, so it may be stale: in the NE US (both Ivy League and state schools) as well as (I believe) the University of Chicago, faculty members are addressed as Mr. or Ms. (depending on their gender) despite having a) a PhD and b) an extraordinarily distinguished career.
Everywhere else I’m aware of is all about “Dr.” of “Professor”.
At professional conferences, it lead to an interesting disconnect - calling some extraordinary person in our field (who worked at Harvard, say) Mr. Jones; and calling some schlep from East Armpit State Dr. Smith.
As I say, I don’t have recent experience, so I’d be interested to learn if this has changed.
I think there’s not all that much variation. There are a handful of notable exceptions to the general practice, and that’s as far as it goes.
In Italy, engineers may be addressed as “signor inginiere,” as a way of showing respect, though I think without using the name. This may be out of date as I learned it from my relatives and I don’t know any Italian engineers.
Plus also Pharmacists and Medical Technologists are licenciado/a (grammatical gender, y’know…).
I wish we had become more assimilated on that aspect; though there was no proper University here until after the US took over, we already had a lot of Spanish-educated professionals, who absolutely refused, by God, to become merely “Mr.”, so we’re still title-heavy. I take it as a matter of pride to gently advise people who address me as “Licenciado”(*), that I am only licensed to drive and to operate a radio station 
(*Of course, mistakenly assuming only a lawyer could be in my position, which doesn’t even require a specific major)
Besides Engineers and Architects, also, CPAs who have come to use the abbreviation as a prefix instead of a suffix. (BTW there was some minor debate whether Ingeniero and Arquitecto as titles should or should not take gender, it’s mostly become up to the individual)
Meh, if people like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney (before they occupied public office) or Frank Gehry seem happy to append their credentials after their names if they bother at all and be addressed as “Mr./Mrs.”, that’s good enough for me.
Not exactly. First point is that anyone can call themselves a minister of some sort, simply by virtue of setting themselves up as such and attracting a congregation. In this sense, yes, a degree-holder from a religious institute can very well allege himself to be a minister, but so can Billy Bob when he thinks the Lord is telling him to give up doing oil changes and fixing flats and preach His word.
In general, however, in the vast majority or organized denominational churches which have an ordained ministry of some sort (as opposed to lading members of the congregation presiding at worship, as the Mormons and many Quakers among others do), it is ordination by a bishop, a group of clergy from other churches of that denomination, or the local Board of Elders, that makes one a clergyman; the college training simply ensures you’re equipped to do the job upon being ordained, and does not in itself entitle you to any special consideration. It’s God’s authority, transmitted through whatever means that church thinks is fit to transmit it, that makes you one of His ministers, not a college degree. Our dear departed Diogenes was not entitled to call himself a minister or affix any prenominal despite having a theological degree,
One final point: As is standard in American usage generally, holding a doctorate entitles you to the prenominal Dr. even without ordination. James Dobson would be a good example here. This is as true in the field of religion as in anything else, from interior design to sports physiology.
IMHO, if you have not earned tenure in the US, you are not a professor. If you have a PhD but you are teaching, you are a lecturer, not a professor. It is OK for your students to call you professor, because that’s colloquial, however, you are not a professor. It is more correct for your students to address you as Dr. So and So than Professor So and So.
I’m not an academic, but I’ve always thought of ‘Professor’ as a higher honor than ‘Doctor.’ The latter is knowledgeable enough to operate at a high level in their field, while the former can both operate and train others to that level. It is not likely that a Professor will not be a Doctor, but most Doctors are not Professors.
I’ve also always assumed that Professors would agree with me on this.
An Assistant Professor who has been teaching ~5-7 years in the same position full-time at a college level and is in a relatively secure position is not a professor?
That would be my opinion,too. Trinity College, Dublin, my alma mater, certainly regards Professor as an exalted title. I know this because I once worked for a company that had a Trinity academic as a senior consultant :- they were very proud of him, and their PR drones were in the habit of putting out press releases referring to Professor Joe Academic (names obscured to protect the innocent, but embarrassable).
At some point Trinity got hold of one of these press releases :- instantly, there was a searing letter sent to the company management and board pointing out :-
A. Professor Joe Academic was NOT a TCD professor, and never had been :- he was merely a Senior Lecturer.
B. The company would immediately issue a press release explaining point A.
C. The company would never again refer to Joe Academic as a Professor.
D. If points B-C did not happen, dire consequences would ensue, both for the academic and the company. The dire consequences included seeking a High Court injunction against the company, and dismissing the staff member in question.
Note this is an example from an Irish university, but the academic in question had several doctorates and had tenure :- nevertheless his institution was willing to go to law and dismiss him to prevent him being called a professor.
Reported
That is what I learned. I know somebody that teaches at a local community college that insists on being called professor with only a masters degree. He also claims to have worked for NASA, but as far as I can tell he had at most some periferal association.
I would consider a professor to be tenure track, but not necessarily have received tenure.
The civil law law schools in Canada, in contrast, usually offer first-entry degrees. Unless I’m mistaken their degrees are usually called LL.B.s. I have a friend who’s got a J.D., but she studied common law after her degree in civil law. I’ll have to ask her if that’s how she got this title.
Do Canadian lawyers get a special title in English, the way they’re called Maître in French? Do they put “, esq.” after their name like American lawyers?
Really? I never noticed, but most Italians I’ve worked with actually have doctoral degrees. I do know that Italians tend to be stronger on honorifics than Canadians or Americans.
Adjunct professors are also commonly addressed as professors, but they’re not tenure track.