A lovely reply Bill I now hope both Peter and Richard are feeling equally valued and respected :)
Kind regards Dave Wprothero wrote > Interesting discussion for a livecode list, but it can't resist jumping > in. I think the issue of titles is very cultural. In the US, titles are > much less important than they are in English society, for example (at > least from my extensive knowledge gained by watching "Downton Abbey"). > After I got my PhD in physics, occasionally a friend would jokingly tell > me she had a pain in her back, or wherever. I'd immediately suggest that > she remove her blouse so I could take a look. Ok, I was young. But it got > a laugh. > > I must admit that, as an American where titles are not as important, I > wouldn't call myself "Dr" on this list. Personally, I'd rather be judged > on my comments and contributions, and I make stupid mistakes just as often > as anyone else, and I consider myself a student of livecode anyway. > > How we use language is cultural and the Oxford dictionary does add slang > whose use becomes so common that is part of the language. In the US when > we (or I) hear someone called Dr (outside of a college/academic context), > I think first of an MD. If I were an MD and was told I wasn't a "real" > doctor, I'd be insulted. It's cultural. Personally I'd feel like I was > being pompous if I insisted that the title of Dr was used to address me > outside of academia. Again, no criticism of Dr Hawkins. I am guessing > that, in his world, it's customary. > > One of the things I love about this list is its diversity and folks are > not judged by titles, but by their contributions. We can respect others, > even in the face of their mistakes or questions that sometimes seem > uninteresting. > > Ok, back to coffee. > Bill > > William Prothero > http://es.earthednet.org > >> On Jan 31, 2015, at 3:03 PM, "Dr. Hawkins" < > dochawk@ > > wrote: >> >>> On Sat, Jan 31, 2015 at 2:52 PM, Peter M. Brigham < > pmbrig@ > > wrote: >>> >>> Sorry, but as an MD I have to protest this. I may not have contributed >>> to >>> knowledge in the sense of having published original research, but i'm >>> confident that I have contributed to the well-being of thousands of >>> patients. That said, I don't take offense at being called "Mr." outside >>> of >>> the office. >> >> I'm not disputing the value of MDs, but the meaning of "doctor" for a >> couple of thousand of years before the creation of the modern MD. >> >> The modern MD was designed (or named) specifically to "borrow" the >> prestige/reputation/non-killing-patients of the doctors of the >> university, >> at a time when general medicine was more likely to hurt than help (I >> think >> crossover to net good was 1920, give or take, in the western world). >> >> It was a wonderful change, and a major factor in modern prosperity. But >> an >> MD isn't what the word doctor (latin for "teach") has meant and been used >> as--one who has both acquired significant knowledge in a field, and >> contributed to that knowledge (and neither does a J.D., which I also >> have). >> >> I just get a kick out of it every time I hear the pompous "I'm a real >> doctor" from an MD dismissing, well, real doctors :) >> >> I don't mind the title around, but the chutzpah in dismissing the real >> thing is amusing. >> >> (I understand, however, that there was an older MD that was comparable to >> the PhD and DD, but that's not who most folks were treated by . . .) >> >> >> -- >> Dr. Richard E. Hawkins, Esq. >> (702) 508-8462 >> _______________________________________________ >> use-livecode mailing list >> > use-livecode@.runrev >> Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your >> subscription preferences: >> http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode > > _______________________________________________ > use-livecode mailing list > use-livecode@.runrev > Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your > subscription preferences: > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode ----- "Some are born coders, some achieve coding, and some have coding thrust upon them." - William Shakespeare & Hugh Senior -- View this message in context: http://runtime-revolution.278305.n4.nabble.com/Unicode-tp4688182p4688362.html Sent from the Revolution - User mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
