Things you find pretentious

[Spice_Weasel]

@LSLGuy

Don’t forget to buy your ancestral coat of arms on the way out. There’s one for every name. Even Namaguchi.

We have a family flag. I’m not shitting you. It’s the first thing I thought about when I read this thread title. They fly it on every single property they own.

Oh and it also reminds me… My husband’s clinical specialization is somewhat narrow, and as such he gets all of his advertising and referrals from being registered on the official website for professionals in his specialization. So he’s registered in his region on the website, and you can run a search for the area and his name will pop up along with a handful of others with his specialization.

More than once he’s had a client demand to see him on the basis that he’s “the top specialist for OCD.”

What that means is the search result for his area is returning his name first.

[kaylasdad99]

@Jackmannii

A recent winner of the Pretension Sweepstakes is Dr. Peter McCullough, a cardiologist whose reputation plummeted drastically during the pandemic for promoting crank antivax views while morphing into a supplement huckster selling a “Spike Detox” formula.

His fans recently trumpeted McCullough’s being given a Top Internist/Cardiologist award from the International Association of Top Professionals and being “feted on Nasdaq Tower in NY” which sounds really impressive, until you discover that the IAOTP describes itself as “an international boutique networking organization” consisting of a “group of publishers, IT experts, PR, Marketing and Branding professionals”.

That isn’t quite the same as being recognized by your medical colleagues.
G TV
Such an award has about as much credibility as the Top Doctor promotions I used to get in the mail, informing me that I had been named a Top Pathologist with the opportunity to purchase a framed certificate for my office and a directory which listed me and other exalted professionals.

No doubt there are a few nitwits who hang these certificates in their offices to fool the gullible into thinking they’re the real deal. If I ever spotted such a thing in the office of a physician I was consulting I would run, not walk to find a different practitioner.

Heh. It’s like if Who’s Who and LinkedIn hooked up at a drunk office party and had a baby together.

[digs]

@Spice_Weasel

More than once he’s had a client demand to see him on the basis that he’s “the top specialist for OCD.”

What that means is the search result for his area is returning his name first.

Changing his name to Doctor Aaron Aardvark, MD/DO/BFD really paid off…

[TriPolar]

I think using the word pretentious is pretentious.

[Jackmannii]

@Spice_Weasel

More than once he’s had a client demand to see him on the basis that he’s “the top specialist for OCD.”

What that means is the search result for his area is returning his name first.

When the Yellow Pages were in vogue, were there clinics called AAAA Orthopaedics?*

*Spelling it Orthopaedics instead of Orthopedics is pretentious.

[TriPolar]

Make AAAA Orthopaedics your foray into orthopaedics!

In memory of Rebecca Howe.

[scudsucker]

@Jackmannii

*Spelling it Orthopaedics instead of Orthopedics is pretentious.

Ahem. Orthopædics, please.

[Dr_Paprika]

You probably know a lot about haematology.

[Tamerlane]

@digs

Changing his name to Doctor Aaron Aardvark, MD/DO/BFD really paid off…

Reminds me of my old springtime stomping grounds of the Desert Studies Center in Zzyzx, CA. Said name invented specifically to be the last word in directories (and, speciously, dictionaries).

[Spice_Weasel]

“By the time you reach us, you’re desperate!”

[veryfrank]

@Jackmannii

His fans recently trumpeted McCullough’s being given a Top Internist/Cardiologist award from the International Association of Top Professionals and being “feted on Nasdaq Tower in NY” which sounds really impressive, until you discover that the IAOTP describes itself as “an international boutique networking organization” consisting of a “group of publishers, IT experts, PR, Marketing and Branding professionals”.

I forget if I told this story here a few years ago or not, but I find the idea of self-proclaimed “official” organizations passing out awards utterly hilarious, because of one guy.

In late 1995, John Woo and Chow Yun-Fat appeared onstage at L.A.'s monthly comic con (very different from the big annual ones today). During their Q&A, this older gentleman who looked very much like Larry “Bud” Melman, stood up and with great pomp and sincerity, proclaimed “On behalf of the Los Angeles Science Fiction Organization (or something like it), it’s my GREAT PLEASURE to present you both with…” and he held up some kind of award, and everyone drowned him out with laughter and the guests on the panel were completely confused.

The following year, through circumstances too boring to recount, I was at the 20th anniversary screening of Rocky at some guild building. It was pretty fun, everyone from the movie who was still alive was there, there was a cool and enthusiastic panel discussion, then they opened it up to questions from the audience. First one up: “On behalf of the Los Angeles Science Fiction yadda yadda, it’s my PROUND HONOR to present to you…!” Yup, there’s Larry, as oblivious as ever, holding up an award no doubt provided by one of the Inland Empire’s better bowling trophy suppliers, as security cut the Q&A off and ushered everybody off the stage.

Honestly, this was one of the funniest running gags I ever witnessed in person.