She's going for Dr AP professionally and Dr YAP socially, because we already have several publications under her maiden name. The worst thing is, we have the same first initial so asking for 'Dr A Pianist' won't help either .

As for phoning, she doesn't like phones in the slightest so I'll take the call either way .



It's an odd one - I know lots of people with PhDs, which is to be expected given I work in a university. So maybe those with PhDs know lots of people who have them, so it doesn't seem too rare; and those without don't know as many. I guess medics have the same: I only know, personally, one medical Dr but they will know several - colleagues, class-mates etc. etc.

I know 3 people with PhDs - and they're all CompSci types!

Which would be less weird if I had any connection with Computer Science whatsoever!

I thought a doctress was the feminine of a doctorer but then maybe the latter doesn't exist as a real word

The (shorter) Oxford English Dictionary, if you have a copy handy, lists doctress as 'either a female doctor or a doctor's wife'.

Is there a word if you are a doctors husband?

I know this is not letters after your name but the 'qualification' I'm proudest of is Mummy. There are only two people in the whole world who can call me mummy and it makes me feel very very very special.

You lknow me and I'm a pharmacologist / physiologist (according to my mood and the subject of my most recent paper)!

Awww!

Actually StuMac, I'd forgotten you were also a PhD! Sorry!

Nope; much in the same way that wife of a Sir can call herself Lady, but no similar rule applies for the husband of a Dame.

Dame sounds a bit naff in comparison with Sir, too... if I was to have a knighthood(!) I'd much rather be Lady Sarah Flute than Dame Sarah Flute Dame is too reminiscent of guys dressing up as women

I'm getting confused I think will stick to Rev'd Dr P M and Mrs J M D, its clearer for everyone, even if strictly I am a doctoress.

question was originally answered at 22.08 on 21 April - post number 12

There was no way that I was ever going to be Mrs Him-Indoors so I've stayed as Miss CR both professionally and personally. I get VERY cross when cards arrive addressed to 'Mr and Mrs Him-Indoors'...

Hmm, back to topic.

I have no letters, but my Grade 5 makes me happy at the moment!!!

My sister's boyfriend of several years has the surname 'Tickle'. No mention of marriage as of yet, but I wonder if she'll take his surname or not.... Still, at least her name isn't Tess .

What? Oh, yes, testicle - an amusing question in an exam

I'm exteeeeemely pleased with my FBCM!

We once got invited (how, or why, we've never been able to fathom - assumed we were the barrel-scrapings got by someone sticking a drawing pin in the phone book to make up the numbers ) to a Royal Garden Party. The envelope was addressed to Harpsidoc esq, the summons (you don't really get invited, you get commanded to come....) itself to Mr and Mrs Harpsidoc, but our entry cards, which were individual, had me down as Dr anacrusis; the university of which I'm an alumna thinks I'm Dr Harpsidoc, which I've never used, and work only knows me as Dr anacrusis....but the Palace got it absolutely right *shiver*. How did they know?

*looks under bed for secret agent, wondering why she'd be important enough to need one*



It was a great chance to spend an afternoon off work watching all sorts of people, though.

Have a great time. I'm most definately Mrs Him Indoors, but I quite like my married name so I'll stick with it. Trouble comes when we go to shop in Debenhams, I keep wanting to put an S on my Surname!

Fun aren't they ! the people watching is the best bit I reckon.

Does Cyrilla know?

I am Ms Me at work, however.....we have just changed both our names to Mr and Mrs Me-Him (ie both double barrelled).

SO.... now sometimes I am addressed as Ms Me, sometimes as Mrs Him, and sometimes as Mrs/Ms Me-Him.

Most close friends send us post to our first names only, as they can never remember what we're called. Half the time I can't either. Very difficult on credit cards/bank accounts which are still a mix of all of them. Thank god for pin numbers!

I like it.

LOL!!!!!!!!!


I love the way you explained that, Bing

I frequently get letters from the BMA (who should definitley know better) addressed to Mr (name here) MBBS Lond. FRCS Ed., which start: "Dear Mr Ed."!

they think you are a talking horse?

Isn't Mr Ed a horse??!


Great minds!

The cheating rat! You wait til I have Words!!!!

Bwahahahahaha!

Double-barrelling my maiden name with my married name would have given me an extremely silly surname indeed, no matter in which order I'd placed them


My middle initial is E, so I'm held on some databases as Mrs D E Surname. The first two initials occasionally get merged by the data entry person and then put into lower case, so I receive post addressed to Mrs de Surname


You're right though Robodoc, the BMA should know better.

Way to intrigue people, Deborah

I have a friend who is Mary Rose [Surname]. For a while she lived in a flat where BT continually sent their letter/bills/etc to Mr [Surname]. The problem was, whenever she phoned up to tell them "no, I'm not Mr, I'm Miss M R" they wouldn't change it because they needed to speak to the person who set up the billing to change it - Mr [Surname]" Telling them that there was no Mr [Surname] (excpet for her father, several hundred miles away) didn't work!

This reminds me of an old and very silly story of a guy who had no fore-names, just initials. (I don't know how that came about so don't ask ...)

One day at the post office filling in some official form, he put down his name as usual - R B Jones.
The counter clerk couldn't deal with this and insisted he had to have something to put in the "forenames" box.

But I don't have any - just initials. The clerk scratched his head and finally suggested that for clarity they filled in the box with R (only) B (only) .

You've guessed it - when the item arrived at Mr Jones' house,
it was addressed to

Mr Ronly Bonly Jones.

It gets worse!

My middle initial is O (first name Rob, profession medicine, hence the handle; Rob O Doc) I regularly get letters to Mr R O'(Surname) instead of Mr R O (Surname).

Our hospital sends mail, email (and other things) by initials. Mine are ROH. I shared an office for a while with RXH, our department head is ARH and the hospital itself is RPH (opened by HRH). Confused? They are!

My hubby as a teenager was part of a church youth group who sponsored a child - we kept the same sponsorship going when we get married but forgot to change the name or anything, and the sponsorship charity clearly doesn't understand the initials as we get letters addressed to A, CYF (where the church group was CYFA)

I had always read your user name as robo-doc - a robot doctor!

Knowing both names, I can see why, you would sound as if you were employed in the catering industry.

I'm sorry Cyrilla that was meant to read I'm definately not Mrs Him Indoors, even though I've taken his name as its the more distinguished of the two. And yes I did reveal that it like a certain department store.

It was hillarous when I got a request for the boys on Classic FM... Simon Bates ended up saying "yes that really is the name". The boys were stoked to hear their name on National Radio.

Me too

The ambiguity is (at least partly) deliberate!

The medical version of Robocop??

Didn't give me any letters after my name, or a fancy certificate to frame, but the qualification that makes the biggest difference to my life is my driving license. ;-)
Probably also the exam I was most pleased to pass (first time too).

T.

Took me 3 times so I was relieved more than anything

At least you got there. :-)
And once you've got it, no one really cares how many attempts it took (unless they're trying to test out a theory).

An organist friend of mine had a theory that all organists pass their driving test first time (because of the co-ordination required to play the organ, with the pedals, stop controls, etc to deal with), so I tested it out by asking other organists I knew and found that it isn't true, cos one of them failed first time.
It might be that a higher proportion of organists pass first time, but I don't know the figures for overall first time pass rate and I don't have a large enough sample size of organists to make a comparison. Would be interesting to know though.


Any or all of my academic, music and sports certificates could vanish overnight and my life tomorrow wouldn't really be any different.
But if my driving license disappeared, it would make a huge difference. (I don't mean the physical thing itself, I mean the permission that it grants me to drive - obviously if the physical license got destroyed somehow I could get a replacement from the DVLwhatsit.)


The nasty piano teacher I had when I was little (the one who came very close to putting me off piano for life) took her driving test loads and loads of times - I don't remember if she ever passed it.

T.

The BMA spell my name wrongly as well. I am Dr Not-married and Mrs Married at present, but may change to being Dr Married if my work isn't published. It does make things easier when paying in fees cheques to the joint back account!

Robodoc - imagine the chaos if you worked at ROH?!!?