[I moved these posts here from the Coronavirus thread at the request of @LutherBlisset. ~Millie the Fink]
Mr. Fauci on Musk and Twitter.
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Wait, he’s not an actual doctor?
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I don´t know. Probably he is a PHD or something. I just wanted to sound respectful.
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Thanks. But calling Mr. is respectful, isn´t ?
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In the US a person using Mr./Ms./Mx. for someone who is a doctor is usually seen as a small insult or mircro-agression. Like the person is really saying the doctor isn’t a real doctor or, in the case of non-medical doctors, their extensive education doesn’t count.
I know you didn’t mean it that way, but it is a cultural quirk here and has been used as an insult against Dr. Fauci by right-wing jerks before
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no.
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Americans are weirder about this sort of stuff than Austrians, and that’s saying something.
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Are we? I figured it wasn’t universal but I don’t know how it is elsewhere, thus my explanation to @BakaNeko, who I believe is from Brazil. Here I see that kind purposeful dig used mostly against women and POC. Like how the right wing assholes never refer to the first lady as Dr. Biden. A lot of doctors who are women or Black have to put up with that.
I get why people want others to use their title. Doctorates and particularly MDs take a lot of effort, time, and dedication. It’s part of their identity. I’m a doctor of jurisprudence, but definitely not a Doctor. I despise lawyers who sign things “esquire” 
Edited cause it seemed like I was saying I disliked ppl who want others to use their Dr. I don’t. I just hate esquire
And spelling damnit
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Even William S. Preston, Esquire!?!
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My aversion might be because, as a lawyer, I typically see really bad lawyers using it. The good ones who do their job well don’t bother
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In Britain, higher level doctors go by “Mr”, so that might be where you got that idea from.
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Interestingly, in the UK it’s just surgeons who deliberately don’t take the Doctor title.
The history of this difference is that surgery used to be the domain of the barber-surgeons who had their own training separate from medical degrees (in the era before anaesthesia and antiseptic, being fast and keeping the patient alive were key skills here), so modern surgeons don’t go by “Doctor” in reference to these origins of their specialism.
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Since I was a young intern in the last century, I learned to call everyone Mr. or Ms. Nowadays I even call people who could be my children like that.
Doutor (doctor) is a commonly used title for physicians. But lawyers and nurses can be called that too, even if they haven’t completed their Doctorate.
It is a sign of respect to be called by that title. But in popular language, the one spoken by common people in everyday life, doctor can be used to refer to a friend or even a restaurant customer, for example. It’s something very informal, I think it’s an irony with the hierarchy of Brazilian society.
Attempts to belittle people during the pandemic also took place here. Especially when some people began to gain prominence in the media guiding people on how they should behave, clashing with the government’s wishes.
I used Mr. when referring to Dr. Fauci out of habit. I completely forgot that I could call him Dr.
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This is getting weirder and weirder by every post. Can someone split this off? I have… questions.
Pinging @Doctor_Faustus for a specific monologue.
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I’ve studied now Philosophy
And Jurisprudence, Medicine,–
And even, alas! Theology,–
From end to end, with labor keen;
And here, poor fool! with all my lore
I stand, no wiser than before:
I’m Magister–yea, Doctor–hight,
And straight or cross-wise, wrong or right,
These ten years long, with many woes,
I’ve led my scholars by the nose,–
And see, that nothing can be known!
That knowledge cuts me to the bone.
I’m cleverer, true, than those fops of teachers,
Doctors and Magisters, Scribes and Preachers;
Neither scruples nor doubts come now to smite me,
Nor Hell nor Devil can longer affright me.
For this, all pleasure am I foregoing;
I do not pretend to aught worth knowing,
I do not pretend I could be a teacher
To help or convert a fellow-creature.
Then, too, I’ve neither lands nor gold,
Nor the world’s least pomp or honor hold–
No dog would endure such a curst existence!
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That’s not always the case elsewhere. Here consultants (boss doctors) are called Ms or Mr and never Dr. Or actually by their first name when they introduce themselves to you. America has a weird culture of honorifics which isn’t necessarily replicated elsewhere. I don’t respect my doctor (John) by calling him Dr. we use first names and that’s the norm. Respect I do though. Just not with titles. I’ve never called anyone “sir” and I never will.
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Just keep away from my poodle.
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