# Are you a Doctor? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 13, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552 "2006-08-13T15:24:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/1 "2006-08-13T15:24:13Z")
The PhDs keep coming out of the woodwork around here. I am often surprised when I find out someone is a PhD of anything, and I really haven’t got any idea why. A friend of mine is a PhD, and I didn’t know it until nearly a year after meeting him. His dad says “My son is a doctor, but not the good kind.” Friend says it’s jokingly, so I’ll have to take his word on it. So? Along with our newly minted Dr. Podkayne and soon-to-be-Dr. Angua, are you a doctor? If you are, what is your doctorate in? Maybe describe your thesis or dissertation, if it won’t give you away. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/2 "2006-08-13T16:35:28Z")
PhD in sociology of religion. Expertise (was) in American cults. (Left the biz 20 years ago and just don’t keep up.) ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/3 "2006-08-13T16:56:38Z")
I guess I’m kind of a doctor - J.D. Never took the bar exam and never practiced. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/4 "2006-08-13T17:25:10Z")
Well, I like to \*play \*doctor with the right women… does that count? Nope, no doctor here. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Stilettos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Red\_Stilettos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Stilettos)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/5 "2006-08-13T17:53:27Z")
Ph. D. in microbiology. My research has bounced around a bit from grad school to postdoc to current position. The connecting thread is gene regulation in bacterial pathogens. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/6 "2006-08-13T20:39:59Z")
Biology, with a specialization in ecology. My thesis was on salt marsh plants and their interactions with marsh invertebrates. I’m currently a post-doc but I’m not sure if I want to continue on the research course. Often I feel like it’s not my true calling and that I would be happier doing something less scientific. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/7 "2006-08-13T20:52:31Z")
Yes, Juris Doctor. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/8 "2006-08-13T20:56:46Z")
Doctorate in veterinary medicine, representin’. _makes a V with fingers like a gang sign_ ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/9 "2006-08-13T21:07:28Z")
Ph.D. in linguistics. I graduated with it on August 5, eight days ago. I didn’t feel the need to start a thread, but you’re welcome to throw a party for me. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/10 "2006-08-13T21:08:46Z")
Ask me again in two weeks’ time, and I’ll be able to say, “yes, I’m a doctor”. 😉 At the moment, as **Ginger** says, I’m a soon-to-be Dr. I’ve submitted my thesis, and my viva, aka thesis defence is in two weeks’ time. Provided that nothing goes horrendously wrong, after the viva, I’ll be **Dr Angua**. My thesis title’s “X-ray and radio interactions in galaxy groups and clusters”, and my research has focussed on how the energy emitted by massive black holes at the centres of galaxies (which we see in the radio mainly) affects the gas found in groups and clusters of galaxies (which emit in the X-ray). **Bonzer** is actually **Dr Bonzer** too; his PhD’s in theoretical particle physics (quantum field theory I think). ---
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/11 "2006-08-13T21:22:10Z")
> [@you with the face](#): > > Doctorate in veterinary medicine, representin’. > > _makes a V with fingers like a gang sign_ I am going into my 4th year of vet school. Not sure if I want to open a private practice though ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/12 "2006-08-13T21:38:35Z")
> [@you with the face](#): > > Doctorate in veterinary medicine, representin’. > > _makes a V with fingers like a gang sign_ Oh, go shove your arm up some horse’s ass! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/13 "2006-08-13T21:44:02Z")
“No, but I play one on teevee.” ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/14 "2006-08-13T21:46:15Z")
I have an engineering doctorate. BTW, is it really proper to refer to a J.D. as a “doctor”? Please understand that I mean no offense. I don’t wish to demean or insult any attorneys on this board, but my understanding is that it’s not strictly proper for a J.D. holder to describe himself as a doctor. I’ll admit that I’d have a hard time referring to it as a doctorate degree, given its scope and customary length of study. (An attorney friend of mine concurs in this regard.) What are your opinions on this matter? ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/15 "2006-08-13T21:48:36Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Ph.D. in linguistics. > > I graduated with it on August 5, eight days ago. > > I didn’t feel the need to start a thread, but you’re welcome to throw a party for me. Congratulations! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/16 "2006-08-13T22:04:20Z")
**Sattua,** congrats! (_Am. Eng._ jocular slang \ **Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/17 "2006-08-13T22:06:00Z") > [@Tracy Lord](#): > > Congratulations! 🙂 I third the congrats. Doctorate in Folklore & Mythology here. I often find it amusing that Ph.D.s get so much flak for using “doctor.” It’s just the Latin word for “teacher,” our job description; we had it first, long before the medics (“doctor” in Latin is _medicus_) started the M.D. I don’t mind sharing the title, but I don’t see why physicians should be the only ones who use it. But I might just be bitter because people are not inclined to take my degree very seriously. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/18 "2006-08-13T22:22:31Z")
Yup, Ph. D. in Lit., but the only time I tried to use the doctor part (to convince my youngest daughter that I was fully qualified to remove a splinter), she–3 years old at the time–sternly rebuked me with “You’re not the right KIND of doctor!” I don’t get any respect around here. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/19 "2006-08-13T22:24:51Z")
PhD in Immunology. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552/20 "2006-08-13T22:25:36Z")
My follow-up post that said that I know it’s not actually back-formation was apparently eaten by hampsters. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-doctor/368552.md?page=2)