Oh goodie. Now we have the political sexist take on who gets to be called "Dr"

There is also the SJD, which is the doctorate in law. To be eligible to apply, you need at least two degrees, and possibly three, depending on the graduate law school program: an undergrad degree, a JD, and possibly an LLM.

The SJD is similar to the PhD: coursework plus dissertation.

Entitlement has multiple meanings. One of which is to have the legitimate right to do something. Another definition is to simply behave as if you deserve special privileges.

People who have earned certain degrees have earned the legitimate right to be called Doctor. They are entitled to that… title.

That was my point. A JD does not entitle anyone to call themselves “doctor.” But some lawyers at the firm where I’m employed also have MDs or PhDs in STEM fields. They tend to be patent lawyers.

They have the legitimate right to be addressed as “doctor.” Some, particularly the MDs (although I’m only aware of two MDs at the firm – there are more PhDs), insist on it. Some don’t.

My parents were both professors with PhDs. My mother preferred to be called “Doctor” by her students, my father preferred “Professor,” go figure. Maybe because there are ways to be a professor without being a doctor, and my mother really worked hard for her doctorate, since she did a lot of the work after she had children. My father, on the other hand, was a full professor with tenure from a very young age-- in fact, IIRC, the youngest person in his department ever promoted to that position.

They sometimes got mail to Prof. & Prof., sometimes Dr. & Dr., occasionally, Prof. & Dr.

But once and a while, Dr. and Mrs. That pissed my mother off to no end, and you can bet they NEVER got mail to Mr. & Dr.

As a PhD I’m not sure that I would agree that this is true in every circumstance. Certainly in professional settings, and in formal settings, like in a newspaper article, but not in everyday settings where I am just a random citizen. If I’m scheduling a time to have my dishwasher installed, I think it would feel weird to have the person on the other end of the phone call me Dr. Godot.

Is your dad European? In the UK and Europe the title of Professor is seen as more prestigious than just Dr.

https://professors.leeds.ac.uk/what-is-a-professor/

I’ve just never understood why this is complicated. In a more formal situation where you would ordinarily refer to Mary Smith as “Mrs. Smith”, if she has a doctorate, you should call her “Dr. Smith”. In a social situation where you would refer to Mary Smith as “Mary”, you should call her “Mary”.

If in a social situation, if Mary Smith asks me to call her “Dr. Smith”, I will do so regardless of whether she has a PhD or an MD. Though, in private, I will think of her as a pretentious jackass for using a formal title in a social situation, again regardless of whether she has a PhD or an MD.

If they call you Buck Godot, sure.

But would you want to correct them if they called you Mr. Godot?

I would expect them to say “Thank you Mr. Godot we have you scheduled for Thursday”. There is no reason for them to bring my doctorate into this, not to mention they would probably be unaware of it. Using my first name would seem overly familiar.

I didn’t mean just your first name, but both first and last.

When I talk to clients, I almost never use a title, but instead use first name, last name, unless I know them well enough that I do use first name only.

A fairly large number of my clients are medical doctors. Of course, I also refer to their dog’s name more than I refer to theirs.

But i suspect you’ll think the same thing if she says “That’s Mrs. Smith”. I certainly would.

Probably not a pretentious jackass in that case, and just an overly formal individual. Unless they expected to be called “Mrs” and called everyone else by their first name. My grandmother didn’t think it was appropriate for people she didn’t know very well to call her by her first name (or to call other people by their first name), and I suspect there’s a generational aspect to that.

But, yeah, we’re on the same page. I have a PhD. If the MDs in the room are going by “doctor”, then you damn well should use that for me too. If we’re in a setting where everyone is going by their first name, then I’m the dick if I request being called “doctor”.

I guess for me, if they wanted to be called “Dr” but meticulously and consistently referred to everyone else with the appropriate honorific, I wouldn’t find it any more pretentious than if they did the same with “Mr.” or “Mrs.” or “Ms”. I would find it exactly as pretentious.