Not That Kind of Doctor: Difference between revisions

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This trope stems from a modern convention: in the past, "Doctor" had a purely academic connotation -- theconnotation—the word itself derives from the Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher". At some point, the word (in English, at least) began to shift from being the title of a learned person/a person with a doctorate to meaning the same as "physician". Originally, the M.D. was a doctorate in medicine, but in some places, like the US and Canada, it became the first professional degree. (In the UK and Ireland an MB ChB -- bachelorChB—bachelor of medicine & surgery -- aresurgery—are the first ''undergraduate'' degrees; holders are addressed as "Doctor" regardless. While Surgeons -- whichSurgeons—which require a graduate degree, equivalent to a North American MD in length of education -- areeducation—are only addressed as Mr, Mrs, or Miss in a form of reverse snobbery.<ref>Historically, being a doctor (the equivalent to GP today) was considered a more upper-class and gentlemanly career than surgery, as they do not have to get their hands dirty. Most surgeons are simply working-class barbers. However when the modern era rolled around and surgery become a more specialized and prestigious line of work than ''mere'' doctoring, the surgeons refused the title of Doctor as a sort of passive-aggressive middle-finger to the snobs who denied them the title 300-ish years previously.</ref>.) It is easy to see how the term "doctor" was slowly divorced from its academic roots. This has gone so far that it is common for it to be thought that "real" doctors are physicians... which brings us to this trope. And [[MD Envy]] to boot.

Certain professions blur the line. A psychiatrist or forensic pathologist will necessarily have a medical doctorate, but their main occupation isn't taking care of people's cuts and sniffles. If they're suddenly forced to act like that kind of doctor--likedoctor—like, say, they're on hand when someone gets hit by a car--expectcar—expect them to act awkward and unsure before they save the day.

=== Doctors who really do practice medicine: ===

* The [[The DCU|female Dr. Light]] started out as [[Not That Kind of Doctor]], being an astrophysicist. Then, she was later shown as That Kind of Doctor, working in a hospital and healing a fellow hero. Thus began her upgrade to [[Omnidisciplinary Scientist]]...

* ''[[City Slickers]]'' has a scene with two doctors needing to attend to an injured man because they're the only people in the group with first-aid training. The problem is that first-aid is all they can provide for him -- hehim—he needs a surgeon, but they're ''dentists''.

** He even mentions how he's ''not'' a medical doctor at least ''twice''-- once—once in Volume 1 when Thompson asks him to figure out what's wrong with Molly, and in Volume 4 when he's brought to see a bullet-riddled Daphne.

* In ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|Mash]]'', Hawkeye, Trapper, Frank, Henry, B.J., Charles, and Colonel Potter--prettyPotter—pretty much all the male officers, not counting occasional visitors--werevisitors—were all that kind of doctor. Dr. Sidney Freedman is a psychiatrist, and therefore, is that kind of doctor, but it's not his occupation. In a crisis he's forced to help out in the O.R., over his protestations that "medical school was a long time ago."

** His being [[Not That Kind of Doctor]] is [[Lampshaded]] in [[Doctor Who/Recap/NS/S3/E11 Utopia|Utopia]] when a guard tells Dr Yana that a doctor "of everything" had just arrived.

=== Other kinds of doctors: ===

** Another episode has Carter, O'Neil, and Jackson step out of the Stargate to find a woman in labor. After Jackson says he's [[Not That Kind of Doctor]], O'Neil and Daniel look at Carter.

* Dr. Rodney McKay of [[Stargate Atlantis]] is most certainly [[Not That Kind of Doctor]] - he's an astrophysicist, and considers medicine to be no more scientific than voodoo, as pointed out in "Search and Rescue", where he has to {{spoiler|deliver Teyla's baby}}.

** While Jackson does state the trope title verbatim, in this instance he's being confused with another type of [[Not That Kind of Doctor]], not a physician.

** Though her boss, Dr. Camille 'Cam' Saroyan, is a forensic pathologist--andpathologist—and, thus, is ''that'' kind of doctor. (Though that isn't her day job.)

* Dr. Mary Albright from ''[[3rd Rock from the Sun]]'' has a PhD. in Anthropology, but Viki Dubchek, the white trash woman who's the daughter of the Solomon's landlady and Harry's on-and-off GF, thinks she's a medical doctor. The gag actually carries to the point where Viki asks Mary to deliver her baby, and ignores Mary's outright statements of "I'm [[Not That Kind of Doctor]]", believing that Mary doesn't want to do it because she doesn't have medical insurance.

* In ''[[The West Wing]]'', Josiah Bartlet is a Doctor of Economics. Of course, he also has [[Our Presidents Are Different|another title]] he prefers to be addressed by throughout the series. It does, however, give him a minor moment of awesome when the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court -- notCourt—not a fan of his -- snidelyhis—snidely refers to him as "Mr. Bartlet."

*** One of these creates an odd inversion of [[Not That Kind of Doctor]]. During {{spoiler|the suicide mission, Mordin is a candidate for the Tech Specialist position. Try to use him in that regard, however, and he's guaranteed to die.}} ''I'm a doctor, not a {{spoiler|hacker}}''.

** [[Played With]], however--hishowever—his knowledge of physics allows him [[The Incredible Shrinking Man|to shrink down]] and pull off a [[Fantastic Voyage]] to save [[Batman]] anyway.

** In other words, not only is she [[Not That Kind of Doctor]], she's not actually any kind of doctor.

* In one of dialects of my language 'physicist' meant physician. Nucleus shares the word with kernel. So when female presented herself as nuclear physicist... (given -- itgiven—it was in time when nuclear physics what esoteric area of physics and 'no one' heard of it).