# Why are physicians in the UK called "Doctor" when they aren't? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 2, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-physicians-in-the-uk-called-doctor-when-they-arent/466230 "2008-10-02T20:53:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-physicians-in-the-uk-called-doctor-when-they-arent/466230/61 "2008-10-06T11:00:55Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > Really? In the US “Master” is only used in addressing wedding invitations, and rarely there anymore. Before I turned 16, my bank addressed its correspondence to me with “Master”. (I’m not sure why 16 was the age that it changed, since the age of majority is 18.) My city library card also had “Master _ctnguy_” printed on it, because I got it when I was a child. Apparently they could only replace it if I lost it, so I “lost” my card in a mysterious accident. (“Gosh, I can’t explain how the card just accidentally got cut in half and then fell in the rubbish bin…” :D). So my new one says “Mr _ctnguy_”, as it should. This was all in South Africa, FTR. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-physicians-in-the-uk-called-doctor-when-they-arent/466230/62 "2008-10-06T13:25:37Z")
> [@grey\_ideas](#): > > I think it’s more that calling PhD’s “doctor” seems to have fallen out of favour in the US, it’s reasonably common to call PhD’s “doctor” elsewhere. Oh yeah. A common (if relatively minor) faux pas in Germany is to walk into a meeting with someone who has a PhD and refer to them as Mr rather than Dr. It’s like using someone’s first name without waiting for the obligatory ‘please, call me Hermann’ or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-physicians-in-the-uk-called-doctor-when-they-arent/466230/63 "2008-10-07T05:27:26Z")
To flog a dead horse, in Canada and the US one generally is called a “doctor” once one graduates from medical school and before startingf residency. Graduating form med school usually takes 4 years, requires one to pass the USMLE Parts 1 and 2 (or the LMCC part I in Canada) as well as pass all of the hospital rotations in clerkship. Residency is another 2 to 5 years, more if you do a PhD as well. Only a few surgeons in Canada (and fewer in the US) insist on being called “Mister”, so it is not fully a commonwealth thing. They do like to be identified as surgeons though. Some are wonderful people, others a little more conceited. The worst ones are always talking about the number of snakes that should be on the caduceus, or pronouncing “centimeter” in French because of the Systeme International. The point about doctors supposedly being learned has already been made. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-physicians-in-the-uk-called-doctor-when-they-arent/466230/64 "2008-10-07T05:36:36Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Only a few surgeons in Canada (and fewer in the US) insist on being called “Mister”, so it is not fully a commonwealth thing. They do like to be identified as surgeons though. Some are wonderful people, others a little more conceited. The worst ones are always talking about the number of snakes that should be on the caduceus, or pronouncing “centimeter” in French because of the Systeme International. You mean people actually argue about how many snakes are on a caduceus? :rolleyes: There are two. There have always been two. Anyone who would argue the point is being ridiculous. The real question, of course, is why medical folk would care about, much less wear, an old symbol of merchants and thieves, instead of the more relevant Rod of Asclepius, which anyone knows has only one snake.😃 Also, I don’t believe that the US is part of the Commonwealth. Do _any_ surgeons here use Mister in a professional setting? ---
**Author:** ![footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9f8e36/32.png) [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/footballisplayedwithyourfeet)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-physicians-in-the-uk-called-doctor-when-they-arent/466230/65 "2008-10-07T08:42:45Z")
Getting back to the OP, I have wondered about this myself and found that in the Netherlands the term _Doctor_ is protected and can only be used by people who have a PhD. The term _dokter_ is often used in adressing someone who practices medicine, but has no official meaning or protection. So unless a person with a medical degree has also obtained a PhD, they are not allowed to use the _Doctor_ title. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-physicians-in-the-uk-called-doctor-when-they-arent/466230.md?page=3)