Do you think a PhD earns people the right to be called doctor in a social setting?

[Jeanny]

I too work at a college and refer to the faculty who have earned the title as Dr. So&so. They've worked hard for that title! I emphasize their title when I'm speaking with students.

I also make my students refer to someone as Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. I absolutely cringe when they call a professor, etc by their last name only!! as in I have to see So&so, I'll say, "Oh, you meanMR. So&so?", they'll reply "yeah, So&so" I'll say "MR. So&so". Then they get that respect thing!

 

[DisneyfeverTN]

It seems like a dr. is a dr. while he is working. Just like a teacher that is teaching, a hair stylist that is doing hair, etc. In a social setting, we should all be equal in importance and everyone should be treated with respect.

 

[Beca]

....not a problem with most MDs, and I don't really care to be addressed as "doctor" (I am forever correcting my students that I am just "Val"), well, except that I would prefer that my MIL would call me doctor once in a while- just to acknowledge that I have the SAME educational level as her DS! Of course, this is the same woman who called the other night and asked ME to do the shopping as it was snowing and she didn't want DS to be killed on the road!!!!

Yikes!!! MIL's should be an "endangered species"!!

 

[pogo791]

Sometimes it's hard to distinguish between professional contexts and social life, but usually it's easy.

What's more difficult is adjusting to different environments. I would rarely expect the use of titles in social situations in the US, but it would be taken for granted in, for example, Germany or Japan (although the younger you are, the less common it is). I've miffed a German colleague once by forgetting that his title, if you please, is Dr Dr [lastname]. (That always makes me feel like I'm stuttering.)

But I think the Japanese take the cake on this one. On one of my first trips to Japan, it took a while to get used to all the titles, even in social settings. And the titles are not just the simple ones - for days, I was basking in the glow of being called The Distinguished Doctor Professor [Pogo].

DW said that the only way she could get my attention for several weeks afterwards was either to use Japanese honorific - or start out with a very loud four-letter word, followed by [Pogo].

 

[Ranatra]

All I can say to that is work it out in therapy. (not aimed at you, just anyone whose ego is that fragile)

Loved this

In a social setting, nobody should expect titles to be used. My Dentist at a party is called Jim. That's his name and that's what everyone calls him.
If someone asked me to call them Doctor in a social setting, I'd probably laugh at them.

If that woman doesn't like it, maybe she should avoid social settings alltogether.

 

[Galahad]

I know PhD's that go out of there way to ensure nobody knows they have a PhD. DW also goes out of her way to never tell anyone she's an MD that doesn't really need to know. Most of our "social settings" that don't involve family or church are with other doctors though - who don't stand around calling each other "doctor".