re: Have you ever met someone who wasn't a real doctor demand to be called "Dr".

The governor of Alabama is actually known as Doctor Doctor Robert Bentley.

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Please provide a definition of "real doctor" other than one that defends only your position and personal opinion.

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The term comes from the Latin, doceo, which means "I teach." So, the truth is, in fact, the exact opposite of the OP's claim: academics hold first claim to the title.

Ph.D.s have been awarded since the middle ages. MDs are a much more recent development, mostly since the early-to-mid 1800s. The "doctor" part of the physicians training, however, stems from their having originally delivered lectures or training at hospitals that trained physicians. Even with M.D.s, the "doctor" part comes from them teaching classes, not treating illness. My personal physician, for example, is a fellow faculty member, who happens to teach in our med school.

In some countries, J.D.s use the term "Dr.," but it's not really common practice here in the US because they don't sit for comprehensive, face-to-face evaluations of both their content mastery and original research/clinical skills. They would not, however, be incorrect in using the title, but it would be kind of socially unacceptable.

M.D.s are the only ones who tend to be addressed, as a matter of course, by their titles outside of their field of work. But, it is considered tacky for anyone with a doctorate degree to expect another doctorate holder to address them by their title.

Full disclosure: I am a Ph.D. I require that students below the ABD level address me as Dr. when on campus or in formal communications - not because I get off on the title, but because it sets and reinforces a boundary line between faculty and student. Off campus or after graduation, I'd never expect that and generally tell them to call me by my first name (unless they were/are little shits).

Feel free to disrespect the Ed.D. as you wish. They are a joke.

I taught at a private prep school after I finished my degree. The headmaster and trustees mandated that I use the title and ask to be called that by students and parents because having Ph.D.s in the classroom was a selling point for their program.

TL:DR - "doctor" means 'teacher' and is more correctly applied to academics/professors than to physicians.

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I had a math teacher in high school that would lose her shite if a student called her Mrs instead of Dr.

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In contrast, my high school principal had a doctorate, and I never knew until years after graduation. She was great too.

I have a PhD. When I was teaching or presenting my work at conferences, I didn't mind being called Dr., but I didn't require it. Now that I am in industry, and dont really contribute to the body of science, I won't go by that title.

I will say, that when I was giving seminars to nephrologists at Columbia University's medical school, I didn't mind them calling me doctor.

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makes a pretty big difference when paging for a doctor on an airplane

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my BIL is a medical doctor. If I have chest pains, I'm calling him. If he needs help with a partial differential equation, he is calling me.

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my BIL is a medical doctor. If I have chest pains, I'm calling him. If he needs help with a partial differential equation, he is calling me.

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yep, we paged for a doc on a flight years ago and an English prof offered himself up, now we page foe a physician

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yep, we paged for a doc on a flight years ago and an English prof offered himself

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if true, that individual deserved some public ridicule...

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if true, that individual deserved some public ridicule...

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it's true and it resulted in a formal change of procedures, I think if someone's ego is that big, or they're that obtuse, that the thought of public ridicule is the furthest thing from their mind

Well said.

I have a pet peeve with chiropractors using the term "chiropractic physician."

Chiros may know a lot in their field of study and clinical practice. but using the term physician implies that their knowledge base and scope of practice is much greater than it really is, and is misleading.

You don't ever see chiros in hospitals.

The term "physician" should be reserved for MDs and DOs.

It seems as though if you start your own church, they have to call you Dr. I know so many preachers that refer to themselves as Dr, yet they probably only have a 6th grade education!