Not That Kind of Doctor: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''"[[Shout-Out|Dangit, Jim, I'm an astronomer, not a doctor!]] I mean, I am a doctor, but not that kind of doctor. I have a doctorate, it's not the same thing. You can't help people with a doctorate; [[Heroic Self-Deprecation|you just sit there and you're useless!]]"''|'''[[The Professor|Dr. Doppler]]''', ''[[Treasure Planet]]''}}

 

 

'''"Not That Kind of Doctor"''' as a trope stems from a modern convention: in the past, "Doctor" had a purely academic connotation — 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 or 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—bachelor of medicine & surgery—are the first ''undergraduate'' degrees; holders are addressed as "Doctor" regardless. While Surgeons—which require a graduate degree, equivalent to a North American MD in length of education—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.