Is it wrong for Jill Biden to be called "Dr. Biden"?

If I know someone has a doctorate, I address them as “Doctor” unless they tell me otherwise. If I see one more post by naysayers claiming that they “know lots of physicists and chemists who don’t insist on being called ‘Doctor’ “ I will hunt them down and throw up in their laps.
Assuming that someone who is not a physician shouldn’t be called “Doctor” is uneducated and foolish.

Dr Biden earned her title. It’s that simple. <eyeroll>

No it’s not wrong.

It’s not controversial at all. Some asshat wrote an opinion against it and then it’s turned into a thing. The doctorates in my family mostly don’t choose to be called it but it’s certainly their right. I really don’t think this is an issue that needs any air time.

My son was given a t-shirt when he got his PhD that said, “I’m a doctor but not the kind that helps people.”

In any case, I am delighted that we have President and Dr Jill Biden moving into the White House.

@janbb I’m definitely going to want that shirt. :D

I agree the controversy is entirely political.

It’s not wrong at all to call her “Doctor”. It’s very common in academia. Most professors use it in official communications. Students and staff will refer to you as “Doctor” out of respect. It’s par for the course.

I’m an Associate Professor with the terminal degree in my area (MFA), but it’s not a Doctorate, and some students and staff still refer to me as “Doctor Cookieman”. It’s engrained in academic culture. Anyone with a Doctorate has busted their tail and has earned the title.

Nope.

It’s not wrong, at all.

And it’s only “controversial” for people who listen to right-wing agitators (or listening to people who are listening to them, or reacting to other stories that were in reaction to them), and who don’t know better themselves.

No. She has earned a doctorate. What could be controversial about that.
Never heard this on conservative media.

Even if she hadn’t, it’s no worse than calling “Master” Beto O’Rourke Master.

She’s a professor so it’s customary to use the doctor title. Even if she wasn’t it would be fine, she earned it, but most PhD’s don’t use or don’t worry about it unless they work in academia, work in a medical setting, or have some sort of a position where a PhD is commonly addressed with the Dr.

Read this op ed @Yellowdog.

I see it as the right running out of things about which to bitch, so they bitch about Dr Biden!!! When I lived in DC, it was considered rude to not address anyone with a Ph.D. as Dr. Somewhere between 1970–1980, someone ran for President who had a Ph.D. & the big topic of discussion at the time was IF he should be called Mr resident or Dr President or jut plain Dr. I don’t remember who it was that ran & he lost so it became a moot point & was quickly forgotten.

I know that some folks find it a bit pretentious but I find that either those folks have an issue with higher education in general or they’ve met some pretentious professors — which there certainly are.

I worked with a guy once who refused to speak to you unless you referred to him as “Doctor So-and-So”. If you used “Mr.” or “Professor” he would just ignore you completely. God forbid you called him by his first name! But that’s because he was an ass, not the degree he earned.

pretty sure the guy who created the issue had a problem with intelligent, well educated females.

It’s a stupid made up issue. I’m not so sure most Republicans have an issue with it either, maybe a certain group of them.

Edit: I have seen some Republicans online have a problem with it, and I have seen some Democrats get ridiculously defensive about it. I commented on a thread on Facebook about it, and referred to Jill Biden as Jill Biden in my answer to differentiate from her husband and a person replied to me Dr. Jill Biden. Ugh. Just as bad as the other extreme. I was defending calling her Dr. and they still saw fit to write that. All the extreme reactions about everything are tiresome. Does that person call Michelle Obama Dr.? She has a Juris Doctorate.

@cookieman What a jerk. My father never uses Dr. Most people don’t even know he’s a PhD probably. My friends never use Dr. when addressing him, always Mr. I assume when he taught they called him Dr., but when he worked outside of academia he never used it, never would mention it.

@JLeslie It’s interesting the extent to which people identify with the side they’ve taken on an ultimately inconsequential issue, to the point that they do not even notice or care what you’re defending. You did something that violated the orthodoxy, so you’re clearly an enemy and need to be corrected. How this became an issue (and the extent to which it is) is more interesting that the issue itself.

@Demosthenes Yes! The woman was so focused on what she perceived as me purposefully ignoring Jill’s accomplishments that suddenly I was in with the enemy, even though I was defending using the title Dr. for Jill Biden.

We call Secretary Clinton simply Hillary all the time and no one has blinked an eye nor she. In formal settings, like an interview, they are more formal, which is appropriate and customary.

@JLeslie: My wife has a Juris Doctorate and she works in academia and has never gone by “Doctor”.

She says it would be odd since she doesn’t teach (she’s in admin). She does stick the J.D. at the end of her work email signature though.

@cookieman Yeah, I think only a professor teaching law would use the Dr, title. That’s the only time I have heard a lawyer referred to as Dr. I am not even sure if that is customary since I have never taken law classes.

Is the vigour of the people best served by those who wear a golden crown?

@JLeslie….anyone with a doctorate qualifies to be called “Doctor.” Not just those with a law degree. Lots of science professors carry the term “Doctor.”

@Dutchess_III It’s lawyers who generally don’t use the title Dr., what are you talking about? If a lawyer insisted on Dr., they would be laughed at or met with eye rolls and considered to be really outside of the norm.

My dad is a sociologist. I’m assuming when he taught at the university level they called him Dr., but he doesn’t use it otherwise. Psychologist are probably one of the few professions that use Dr., even outside of the academic realm.

You said ”Yeah, I think only a professor teaching law would use the Dr, title.” That is not true.

@Dutchess_III I meant that only regarding lawyers, not other PhD’s.

The term “doctor” derives from Latin, meaning “teacher”. So one could say that, as an educator, Dr. Jill Biden has more right to use it than a physician does.

But I don’t think the writer for the Wall Street Journal really has an issue with this use of the title. Somehow I doubt he’d take umbrage at, say, Dr. Henry Kissinger or Dr. John Trump.