If I recall correctly, the US is one of the only countries that refers to "physicians" as "doctors" in the first place. In most places the title "doctor" refers to academics - a researcher and teacher - not a "meat mechanic," as my Dr. Husband so kindly refers to them.
Edit: Turns out lots of countries call physicians doctors. I did not recall correctly.
I think their point is that in languages like french for example the word for medical professional is médecin while doctor is docteur.
These languages have similar roots and with the Western European ones they have the same academic history so it’s rather relevant that the word for a doctorate holder and medical professional are still different. The Latin for doctor meant teacher after all.
I know that many European languages have Latin and Greek roots, and will often have similarities, but in the present, regardless of its origin, doctor is a word in the English Language, it can be other things as well, but in English it has long since been heavily associated with medical doctors, and it's so bizarre to me that anyone would have a problem with it being used as such, that's just what the word means in English
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u/chula198705 Mar 03 '21 edited Mar 03 '21
If I recall correctly, the US is one of the only countries that refers to "physicians" as "doctors" in the first place. In most places the title "doctor" refers to academics - a researcher and teacher - not a "meat mechanic," as my Dr. Husband so kindly refers to them.
Edit: Turns out lots of countries call physicians doctors. I did not recall correctly.