Hugh: Don’t touch me, I’m a doctor.
Judge Maxwell: Of what?
Hugh: Music.
Judge Maxwell: Can you fix a hi-fi?
Hugh: No, sir.
Judge Maxwell: Then shut up!
The OP nearly has it the wrong way around. The term “Doctor” goes way, way back. It generally referred to learned people. Take the Catholic Church’s practice of honoring certain individuals as Doctors of the Church.
The weird association, as shown by the OP, that only medical learned people are entitled to using the term is fairly recent. And then only among unlearned people who don’t understand the use of the term for the last thousand+ years.
I’ve encountered quite a few MDs that don’t qualify at all under the category “learned” based on the stupid stuff they’ve said.
Generally, MDs don’t write important papers advancing the knowledge in their field. So, that’s a strike against them using the term “Doctor”.
It is incredibly insulting to real Doctors to denigrate their achievement since they don’t practice medicine.
I feel you pain …
72] If we go back fifty years or so, we’d find that in most any community the smartest person was the medical doctor … and generally one of the best paid … thus the honorific of doctor … not so much the case these days, the best and brightest of my generation became software engineers and today these folks become investment bankers … the archtypical MD has become a fourth or fifth rate occupation workin’ on an assembly line of a sort …
Lots of GPs have done original research.
DSYoungEsq, you do not have a doctoral degree of sorts. You have a degree whose title contains the word “doctor”. The actual legal doctoral degree is the Legum Doctor, or LL.D., which very few lawyers have (I think it’s mostly law school professors).
But the LL.D. (which is awarded in America only as am honorary degree) is an academic degree – it is research based and more akin to a Ph.D. If you’re going to draw that distinction between J.D.s (a professional doctorate) and LL.D.s (an academic doctorate), you are also going to have to say that an M.D. is also just a degree that happens to have the word “doctor” when compared to Ph.D.s. A medical doctorate is a professional degree that doesn’t require original research, similar to a J.D., a D.D.S., or a Pharm.D.
FWIW, I never encountered an L.L.D. In law school. The majority of law professors are former practicing lawyers who have a done judicial clekships and have written law review papers, or are current practicing lawyers, all with J.D.s.
The distinction here is between academic/research doctorates and professional doctorates. MDs, DVMs, DDSes, and JDs are professional doctorates. PhDs and LLDs and such are academic doctorates.
This. It’s a psychological boost for people with frail egos.
MrsB is actually MrsB, PhD, and is about to finish med school.
So in first and second year when the MDs in hospital, all younger than her, went around addressing each other as Doctor X and Doctor Y, but called her Miss First Name, she would twit them by pointing out she was actually Dr B.
It would get even funnier when they started talking about diseases and medications that she researched during her academic/pharmaceutical career.
[sub]Me, I’m over here rehearsing my Robert Palmer for karaoke night. [/sub]
Yo! I’m an FP with two published papers under my belt. In a 35 year career! 
It used to be that having a PhD meant some serious academic/scientific/knowledge advancement and achievement. But nowadays on a lot of CVs I’m seeing people claiming multiple PhDs in various fields, all from online universities. And obtained in under a year. Sort of diminishes the PhD mystique, IMHO.
Meanwhile, getting an MD or DO can generally be counted on to involve a fair amount of academic rigor along with some training as a medical scientist and at least a little familiarity with what constitutes cutting-edge science.
BTW, I hate being addressed as “Doctor” in a social situation. The only time I feel I should be addressed that way is in a professional situation in front of patients. When patients are not present, I’m Qadgop to my peers and colleagues. MDs who insist on being addressed as “Dr.” in other settings set my teeth on edge. Especially when the doc is 30 years my junior. 
I have no problem sharing the title “Doctor” with PhDs.
Chiropractors, naturopaths and Holistic Nutritionists, not so much.
Why is it that we call physicians by the same title we call osteopaths?
And osteopaths by the same title as chiropractors?
Chiropractors by the same title as dentists?
Dentists by the same title as podiatrists?
One can also earn a doctorate in Nursing, thus appropriately having the title of Nurse Doctor so-and-so.
He wasn’t a dick really, but he definitely operated on a different intellectual plane, and was very precise in his use of language.
This is a distinction that has always bugged me. I have respect for all - so please, no offense is intended on any front.
A J.D. is a Master’s Degree with a fancy name (“I just want to do tax/criminal/estate/etc… law.”)
An LL.D is an true doctorate (“When we consider the intent of the Founding Fathers…”)
An MD is a practitioner’s degree (“I’m sick of seeing urban kids with diabetes, gunshot wounds, and hiccups”)
A PhD is a doctorate degree in research (as a friend often says, “I just want to do science! Why won’t they let me do science?”)
On an academic level, my respect is for the latter in both professions. But I’m not sure I’d want an LL.D to defend me in court, or a PhD to perform surgery on me.
Not sure where to place the D.O.'s. I’m biased, having dated one, and terrified that they let her cut people open. I’m not sure she knows the molecular structure of water.
Titles…schmitles…people who demand being referred to by their title usually will get a pass by me. Most of the professionals I deal with, MD, DDS, PhD, JD, etc. I know well enough that I am on a first name basis, and chose them for not only their field of expertise but also their character. The only time I generally use their titles is when introducing them to someone else.
I’m amused to hear you say that. Many years ago a successful PhD student held a reception the evening of his final exam. I was talking to his father, a professor of medicine in another medical school, who at one point said to me, “Now we have a real doctor in the family”. So he, at least, was aware of the distinction. But yes, a PhD is awarded, at least theoretically, for the advancement of knowledge. But my colleague (that student’s advisor in fact) used to say that a PhD is a piece of research of the advisor’s carried out under adverse circumstances. He addes that he didn’t mind writing the thesis as much as having to explain it to the students. Actually, my students all actually did the research, needed only a problem suggestion and perhaps an outline of how it might work.
Want to add: It is also possible to get a PhD in medicine. It does not entitle you to treat patients, but to carry out research into medicine. I have been chairing PhD final exams and the two in medicine that I have chaired were both studying how and when to treat HIV infection (as soon as diagnosed, before AIDS kicks in, in case you are interested is the “when”).
When I was in graduate school, I originally wanted to get a D.Eng (I am not a scientist, I’m an engineer dammit!). My advisor recommended against it, saying it would limit my options going forward - more of a professional degree than an academic one. I ended up getting a PhD, although at graduation I really would have liked the D.Eng robes with the orange stripes/hood instead of the blah dark blue of the PhD robes.
Isaac Asimov once mentioned how his mother would introduce him at social functions etc. as “*Doctor *Asimov”. Then when they asked him medical questions he would have to explain he was a PhD in Chemistry, not a medical doctor. Then the other mothers would say, “Oh, so not a real doctor.” He mentioned that he decided that PhD stood for “Phony Doctor”.
Was it a PhD in engineering? I don’t recall seeing a school offer both, so I’m curious what the difference was. I thought it was just cosmetic.
B.S.: BullShit
M.S.: More Shit
Ph.D.: Piled higher and Deeper
I used to hang out with a machinist who often referred to me as a “Post hole Digger.”