Are you a Dr. because your in medicine or thru academia?
Ph.D.
Do you use the Dr. title often? If so where and when?
Only in proposals or professional biographies or other formats where bragging about credentials is expected.
Do you use Dr. when signing checks or only when such a title would be required?
Why would you use any title when signing a check? That’s an odd question.
Are you ok when someone calls you “Doc”?
That has never happened to me.
On the gender front, I truly dislike being called Mrs., so if someone tries to do that on a day when I’m feeling particularly ornery, I might suggest that Dr. is more appropriate. (I am fine with Ms.)
Only with students, and I only sign e-mails that way with students who truly need a clue (i.e., they’ve been addressing me as “Miss Fretful” or something else equally inappropriate). Some of the university staff call me “Dr. Porpentine,” which I wish they wouldn’t do, since we’re colleagues; I keep signing messages to them with my first name, but some of them never seem to take the hint.
No, I never use a title of any sort when signing checks.
No one has ever done this, and I’d find it a bit weird if they did.
Mainly formal situations. I’m addressed as Dr. Lastname by the most of the office staff at the organization at which I work, although ones I’ve known for a long time will call me by my first name. Students generally call me by my first name. Panamanian students are accustomed to more formality and may call me doctor. I’ll sign official letters using Ph.D. after my name when that’s appropriate.
When I’m buying airline tickets or something on line, and it asks for a title, I’ll pick “Dr.” on the off chance it might get me a little more consideration if I have a problem.
I’ve never heard of anybody signing checks with their title. Would you sign a check “Mr. So-and-so?”
Only in formal, work-related functions, such as formal meetings, proposals, presentations. Students call me Dr. so-and-so or Professor so-and-so, or just “Professor” much of the time. Staffers rarely do, as they know I am a pretty casual person. Some the older, crotchetier faculty get called “Dr. So and so” by the staff.
Never heard of using it on a check!
I would be amused and delighted. Especially if they preceded it with “What’s up?”
Etymologically speaking, a person with a Ph.D. has as much or more right to be called “doctor” as a physician does. The word “doctor” has the same root as doctrine, document, documentation, docent, etc. - basically, it implies the codification of knowledge and a person steeped in that knowledge.
The very fact that MD stands for “medical doctor” implies that “medical” and “doctor” are two separate aspects of the profession, and that therefore “doctor” does not necessarily imply anything medical.
Are you a Dr. because your in medicine or thru academia?
Through both.
Do you use the Dr. title often? If so where and when?
Very often at work, since it is Academia, but I’m sure I’d have to use it even outside of academia, as that would be part of my job title.
Do you use Dr. when signing checks or only when such a title would be required?
Huh? No, I sign with my signature, although sometimes if it is a work-related document, either Dr. or my full titles are printed next to my name.
Are you ok when someone calls you “Doc”?
Yes, plenty of people at work call me doc. I don’t like it as much outside of work, buuuut… I hike at a club that includes some students or former students, and they couldn’t help NOT calling me doc. So everyone else in the group started calling me doc.
In what? In the sciences 3+ years is common. I’m sure someone can complete that in a year, contingent on them. But I also think it’s not terribly useful for them to rush through.
When anyone asks for my title, I say Dr. However, I wish the MD crowd would select a different title to describe their training or vice versus. There is a big difference between people who earn a PhD and those who earn an MD. Many (not all) of the latter are basically plumbers. Not that there is anything wrong with plumbers-I sometimes wish I had gone into plumbing. Good, well-paying job.
In practice, though, in some places the use of the term “doctor” as a personal title actually used in conversation (on in filling out forms and the like), outside of a strictly academic context, would appear inappropriate as a matter of polite usage, because the use of that title as a title has been so strongly associated with the meaning “medical doctor”.
It is really a matter of social etiquette: different places do it differently. I understand that in Europe PhDs more readily use the title of “doctor”. There is no really logical reason for it.
Possibly an urban myth: a FoaF allegedly stopped doing that, after having to explain to airline stewards that his acknowledged expertise in computer network topology, as represented by his doctorate in that field, would be of little use to the nice gentleman in seat 5(b) who was experiencing chest pains over the Pacific.
For a master degree??? Most places I know would want that finished in 2 years, 3 at the most. Doctorates may take longer. And one year Masters are common if they are non-thesis related. If I hadn’t been accepted to veterinary school, I would’ve done a one year master of Ag, non-thesis.
[ol]
[li]Academia[/li][li]Very very rarely anymore. My business cards and patents have “, PhD” after my name. Sometimes I sign up for loyalty cards using Dr., like hotels, because I hear they treat you better. When I was in academia, using “Dr” was much more common because the “Dr” was used to distinguish me from professors (“Prof.”) and grad students (“Mr”/“Ms”), for instance, when being introduced before giving seminars.[/li][li]No honorific at all when signing checks.[/li][li]No one ever has. It wouldn’t bother me, but it wouldn’t get my attention either.[/li][/ol]
While I am here, I want to mention one more thing. Some of my friends, and my dad, address letters me to as Dr. But my mom always uses “Miss”. It’s like, of all the things that I’ve accomplished in my life, the one that matters most to her is that I never got married…
What are these “checks” you speak of? Seriously, no. I usually forget to include my title even when I’m supposed to…
Again, depends on the environment. In the lab I would assume someone was being cutesy. In a medical setting…it does happen, but not often. Can’t say I notice much.
I first tried this with a couple of mid-range hotel rewards cards about a year ago and was astonished at how much extra service seemed to land on my lap at check-in - unasked for room upgrades, general staff attentiveness, etc.
After it happened three times in a row (three properties, two states, two different systems) my egalitarian stripes made me reflexively start to feel bad about it and I stopped. I should maybe work on repressing that…
Professor at a university here - never referred to as such outside of the workplace. Not much at work, either - all first name terms amongst staff and in my laboratory.
Being called ‘Mr’ in a professional context is the one thing that sticks out a bit - doesn’t happen often, so when it does it’s quite eye-catchingly ignorant. Like someone who doesn’t know me contacts me at work about a chemistry matter, and wants to talk chemistry with Mr Scissors. I’m not arsed on a personal level, but it shows they have no clue - which may be a problem taking things forward.
1. Are you a Dr. because your in medicine or thru academia?
Academia
2. Do you use the Dr. title often? If so where and when?
Only on work-related documents and in formal work-related writing such as grant applications.
3. Do you use Dr. when signing checks or only when such a title would be required?
I’ve never used the title for anything personal except when I’m forced to pick a title on some stupid form. Even then I use it only for things that are somehow related to my work, like subscriptions to academic journals. (I haven’t signed a check in years, does anyone still use the things?)
4. Are you ok when someone calls you “Doc”?
No-one has ever tried. I would find it weird.
No one ever calls me “Dr.” except for my parents (when they are being cute) or my boss, but only when he is introducing me to “important people”.
I almost never use “Dr” outside of a professional context, and even then, it wouldn’t be dropped casually.
It’s not something that happens often, but when it does, I take it as a sign of respect. So I’m okay with it, but it’s not something I encourage. Because I don’t want people to think that’s how I prefer to be addressed. It’s also overly formal.
The following is only tangentially relevant. Last night I was at a conference and there was an evening social event. I was talking to Very Important Scientist guy who works for the federal agency that provides oversight over my office. I was expressing to him how frustrated I was that a scientist we’ve contracted with has ignored my feedback on something (feedback that Very Important Scientist guy personally co-signed). He commiserated by saying “Some scientists won’t respect a person unless they have a Ph.D. Don’t worry about it.” As casually as I could, I let him know that I had a Ph.D. And hee apologized profusely. I’m kind of glad that I’ve now set him straight since my agency has asked him to review some work I’ve done. I really want to be treated as his equal. One’s title really shouldn’t matter, but it does.
Academia. I don’t use it but I don’t instantly correct first year students who address me as Dr. Kropotkin. And if I’m giving an invited talk to a public audience and am introduced as Dr. Kropotkin, I don’t stop the speaker but rely on my congenial geniality to make it clear I don’t care for titles. Fwiw, Miss Manners (Judith Martin) quotes her professor uncle Selig (Perlman, a labour historian) thusly: “A PhD is like a nose — everyone has one. It’s only conspicuous if you don’t have one.”
I tell my newly minted PhDs they can insist everyone call them Doctor…for one week.
Seriously, no. I usually forget to include my title even when I’m supposed to…