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Comment by laingc | Hacker News Reader

It is important to note that in many places outside the US, Physicians are only honorary Doctors. For example in New Zealand, Physicians graduate MB ChB - Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of surgery. Lawyers likewise graduate LLB - Bachelor of Laws. You’re only technically a Doctor if you have a Doctorate - PhD, DPhil, DSc, MD.

It doesn’t invalidate your opinion, but it’s worth being aware of your own cultural context when making judgements.

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Kiwi here. In NZ, a doctor is assumed to be a medical doctor without other context. And calling yourself a doctor when you're not a medical doctor gets you mocked, unless the context makes it clear you mean academic doctor-- as in, you're on a podium, and about to give an academic talk.

Mind you, calling yourself anything which isn't explicitly self deprecating gets you mocked in NZ.

In New Zealand, when you are sick, do you go to the doctor or to the Bachelor of Medicine?

You go to the GP - General Practitioner.

So that’s what people use in conversation? They don’t use “doctor” as a synonym for physician?

Isn’t that what they say in Britain? “GP”?

Yes

If it's as in Britain - and New Zealand is a Commonwealth country - then yes, people say, "I have an appointment with my GP."

My copies of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories of Sherlock Holmes speak of Doctor Watson rather than GP Watson.

Is this a Philosopher's Stone/Sorcerer's Stone situation where someone published an Americanized edition and that's what I have?

No, I think it's because GP is a newish term.

There’s a difference between “being a doctor” and “Dr Watson”. Nobody would ever say an academic is “a doctor”.

we do use "doctor" as a synonym fro GP, but we also understand that it's a traditional customary title and they don't actually have a doctorate

As others have commented, you would indeed say, “I have an appointment with my GP.” However, people would certainly know what you meant if you said “I’m going to see the doctor.”

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