It used to be that two cereal-box tops 
and a quarter would get you a Flash Gordon secret decoder ring. Nowadays, the same will get you the word “Doctor” in front of your name. It reminds me of a scene from an old sitcom called Fernwood Tonight in which a man is having a heart attack and everyone yells for a doctor. When the “Doctor” comes running out from the audience, he has no idea what to do. It’s because, he says, he is a botanist.
I have always said that if somebody puts the word “Doctor” before his or her name on a sign or business card, it indicates that this person is not a medical doctor (or as one of my partners puts it, not an R.D. or Real Doctor). Conversely, when I first came to town, my medical colleagues (more…)
