And when someone's mother in law walks in it's
"HOLY COW!"
And when someone's mother in law walks in it's
Be it honorifics or apparel, we all are exposed to some cultural practices that feel familiar and thus comfortable -- just the way things are. Yet this site is populated by a crew of folks who rise to the challenge, at least wonder -- if perhaps the customary practices, like the emperor "has no clothes" shouldn't be challenged.by Dust » Sat Nov 20, 2021 8:54 am
When I was a kid, it was always Mr. or Mrs. last name for adults. I did a brief summer camp thing with some Quakers who had the kids refer to adults by first name, and I found it uncomfortable.
I know someone in the US who uses "Dr.-Ing" which made me curious about the title.Stu wrote: ↑Wed Nov 24, 2021 4:57 pm But how many people would question the right of, say, Dr Robert Oppenheimer, or Dr Henry Kissinger or even Dr Albert Einstein to use the title because they weren't medical doctors? Oddly, in Germany, they can double-up the "Dr" title if someone has two doctoral degrees - so they could say they were "Dr Dr Schmidt" - and if they were also a full professor, they could say they were "Dr Dr Professor Schmidt". It is also illegal in Germany to use any "Dr" title (which is only academic and never medical) if the qualifications were obtained other than in an EU country. Fortunately, they haven't enforced this rule as I know some American scientists have ignored it and used the title.
Actually, no. I'm not trying to be contrarian here, but having two doctoral level degrees would likely be better expressed with a subscript 2, as, say, in H2O (dihydrogen monoxide) as superscripts denote powers and two doctorates would be 1x1, thus 1 expressed as powers. Thus, the subscript number becomes a numerator and thus more meaningful for small numbers.
I'd tend to exclude assorted parts of the planet from inclusion in the matter of degrees, but not having any of my own to speak of cannot speak with much authority on that matter, save that I've accumulated more knowledge over the course of my career than several folks I know of that carry doctorates from other countries in the field.I would also ignore the EU non-disclosure rule. However I almost never use my BSc designation.
Ing in NL is Ingenieur, which is sort of like Engineer in english but someone that has an degree in a technical subject. Dr-Ing as a title means they have a doctorate in a technical subject. So someone with a degree in education of business studies isn't allowed to use it.
I've seen "D.Eng." after the name of a professor with a doctor of engineering degree here in the US, but only in a formal listing of names or official correspondence. And even there it's unusual. Apparently there is a difference between that and a PhD in engineering, but I'm not entirely sure what it is.rode_kater wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 2:22 pmIng in NL is Ingenieur, which is sort of like Engineer in english but someone that has an degree in a technical subject. Dr-Ing as a title means they have a doctorate in a technical subject. So someone with a degree in education of business studies isn't allowed to use it.
I get to call myself Ing, which I think is way nicer than putting MSc after my name.
This is very true. I've been around a lot of folks with advanced degrees and it doesn't necessarily mean much.
Some of the best, smartest folks I've known had a PhD but didn't advertise that fact. Had a high school physics teacher who everyone just called "Mr. [last name]" that I later found out had a PhD. He was one of the single best teachers I ever had. Complete gentleman, and could explain concepts better than anyone. Simple demos that got the point across. You get the idea. And just well mannered while being approachable.denimini wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 3:01 am I knew a guy who lived out in the bush and when he came to town he would sleep in the back on his uninsulated Morris Minor panel van, including some nights where the temperature got down to 3C or even minus 3C. Thus I thought that he was referred to as the 3 degree man because of this propensity but no, he had 3 doctorates. He never used an honorific and if he did I would not have guessed unless he was a Dr Dr Dr Peter and even then I might have assumed it was a stutter.
In our local UK hospital (at least it pertained 20 years ago when my wife had an eye operation), the most senior male surgeon in a department always Mr, rather than Dr - perhaps a kind of reverse snobbery! Other senior surgeons were often similarly named.Stu wrote: ↑Wed Nov 24, 2021 4:57 pm
Third, I noticed there was some scorn poured on Jill Biden for using the "Dr" title. That was unfair. She holds a Doctor of Education degree and, while that is the lowest level of doctorate, it is still a doctorate and she can use the title. The idea that only medics should use the title is based on ignorance. She actually has more right to use it than most medics as they don't hold doctoral degrees and they style themselves as "Dr" as a courtesy title for historical reasons. Of course, if one is asked their occupation and they say "doctor", then that has a specific meaning in English now; it means a registered medical practitioner, but that is not relevant to use of the title. There was a fashion going back to the 1960s in which quite a few academics renounced the title "Dr" for ideological reasons. They took the view that it was elitist and divisive, and some of that thinking has pertained to this date.