Re: "Dr." and all that

[Jack Uretsky <jlu@HEP.ANL.GOV>]

On Fri, 29 Dec 2000, Larry Smith wrote:

        Quoting Ann Landers:
> NOT A DOC
>
> Dear Ann Landers:
>
> I am writing about the propriety of academics calling themselves "Dr."
> This anecdote might settle it.
>
> When I entered the University of Chicago more than 60 years ago, the
> esteemed President Robert Maynard Hutchins welcomed our class and told us
> that he wished to be addressed as "Mister Hutchins."  That way, he said, no
> one would rush over and ask him to fix someone's broken leg.
>
> Your answer to the associate professor in Kansa was right on.
>
> P.S.: My husband and daughter both are J.D.s and would laugh out loud if
> addressed as "doctor" in or out of court.
>
> --R.N., West Hollywood, Calif.
        That's because the J.D. degree is not a doctorate.  The doctoral
degree is the LL.D.
        Regards,
                Jack Uretsky, J.D.