Is there a doctor in the house?

John Cole points out that there is a segment of the “intelligencia” out there who don’t know that a Ph.D. entitles you to the honorific “doctor.”

“New York Times columnist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman—who I’ve noticed some econ bloggers refer to as ‘Dr. Krugman’ with no hint of sarcasm—says now’s the time to up our daily allowance of stimulis.”

He got his Ph.D. in 1977, so I don’t understand why people are supposed to be sarcastic if they call him Dr. Krugman. What context am I missing here that would explain this?

Which reminds me, I’m the only member of my family without a Ph.D.

Which reminds me that when I was a kid, answering the phone, I often would be asked, “May I speak to Dr. Chay?”

To which, I’d have to ask with no hint of sarcasm, “Which one?”

2 thoughts on “Is there a doctor in the house?

  1. Dude, me too! Both my parents had Ph.D.s and that used to happen to me all the time. I also knew immediately that they were telemarketers since neither of them actually went by Dr. Malone normally.

  2. Since I’m Korean, a lot of my people called my parents “Dr. Chay.” Koreans and Japanese never pass up opportunities to use honorifics.

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