doctoral folly continues (ad absurdum)

[Guest guest]

Mr. Flaws,

 

You disapprove of the doctoral degree and of the title " Doctor " (for

practitioners of CM in the U.S. who do not hold an M.D. degree)

primarily because the average graduate of Chinese medicine programs in

the U.S. does not " deserve " the appellation. You recommend instead a

title which is the pinyin transliteration of the Mandarin word

denoting " doctor, " and you further suggest adopting the Chinese

standard usage of placing the professional title after the last name.

Presenting a case for precedence, you allude to the rich history in

English of foreign-term borrowings, citing examples of words with

non-Anglo-Saxon roots which are in common usage, including several

honorifics (which unlike yi-sheng have no English equivalents). You

suppose that lack of creativity in reaching consensus testifies to a

lack of " smarts " within the profession, and you seem to liken this

quality among members of the profession to the mediocrity which

Americans look for in leaders: there is precedent in the U.S. in

granting even the highest honorific titles to those lacking smarts.

Finally, providing a few belittling synonyms for " average, " you bemoan

our sad state, in French.

 

Like that of Shakespeare's Holofernes, contrived foreign usage can

provide comic relief; in this case it also provides a deus ex machina

in the attempt to find the mot juste. The twangy pronunciation

[ya-shayng] is alone scary enough to dissuade me. In any case, rest

assured that it was only after the Norman Invasion that the word

" doctor " came to English, via French from the Latin for " teacher, " so

" doctor " may be further outside the Saxon box than you realized!

 

In your zeal to protect the public from false claims of honor and rank

by CM graduates in the U.S., you reveal what may be behind Chinese

medicine's difficulty with self-labelling: low collective self-esteem.

Other professions (including Western medicine and psychology) have

suffered, especially in the early years, from the inclusion of the hoi

polloi among their ranks, but many seem to have forged ahead,

confidently making a name for themselves and working to fulfil their

reputations ex post facto.

 

I must admit that the label has never meant much to me, though I find

the term " doctor " fairly pretentious in common usage and prefer

" physician " in general. Remember that just as you pointed out in the

case of " yi-sheng, " the degree is usually separate from the label.

Someone with a doctorate in architecture is still an architect, and

please don't call me Master Hershowitz just yet. In general I just

explain that I practice OR do (Chinese medicine OR CM OR TCM) OR

(acupun* AND (herb* OR Chinese medicinal) AND (tui na OR massotherapy

OR bodywork OR massage) AND (adjunct therapies OR other stuff like

bleeding, vacuums and fire), and see how many hits I get. But people

see right through the act—they can tell I'm just a middling American.

 

Sincerely,

 

Jonah Hershowitz

 

P.S.—It may appear that in meeting ostentatiousness with pedantry, I

seek quid pro quo. But nota bene that if my jestful irony is not a

beau geste it is nonetheless bona fide and I hope will raise some

smiles on the side.

 

P.P.S.--Is there a way to preserve simple formatting like italics?

 

, " Bob Flaws "

<pemachophel2001> wrote:

 

> As for our current graduates deserving to be called " doctor, " not on

the planet I live on.

 

Bob

--------

> For those doctor wannabe's, go to med school.

>

> We are not going to solve any of our problems by aping the title of

> doctor, either with volutnary post-entry level eduction or entry-level

> education going to a mandatory doctoral degree. If we continue to take

> the same kind of students and teach them by the same kinds of teachers

> in the same kinds of schools run by the same kinds of people, we will

> get the same kinds of graduates. If those same old-same old graduates

> call themselves doctors, we will be shooting ourselves in the foot for

> sure.

>

> I still say we should simply adopt our own, unique title. Even if it

> is a foreign word, like yi-sheng or yi-shi, with a little consistent

> P.R. effort we can get the public to adopt it within a year or so, no

> problem. Look how Madonna has made the word " kabbala " recognizable to

> everyone in a period of 12 months or less. Most Americans are

> comfortable with foreign title words like sensei, sifu, mullah,

> ayatollah, mujaheddin, rabbi, rebbe, lama, rinpoche, yogi, etc. Who

> knew what a fatwa was three or four years ago? Or an RPG or IED? Where

> did the words bagel, bialy, pizza, pannini, expresso, latte,

> bruschetta, salsa, fajitas, and tortilla come from? Not Anglo-Saxon;

> that's for sure. Americans adopted the title " barista " without any

> hesitation, and we all now know what a grande is. So why not Flaws

> Yi-sheng, Luger Yi-sheng, and Marcus Yi-sheng? All it would take is a

> will and some consistency of presentation.

>

> Are we so lacking in vision and the ability to think outside the box?

> The fact that we cannot come up with a more creative solution to the

> admitted issue of a workable title for members of our profession is

> itself testimony to our lack of smarts as a profession. But then

> Americans like our leaders to be average Joes, and average means just

> that: ho-hum, medium, ma-ma hu-hu, not exceptional, not superior, not

> great. Tant pis pour nous.

>

> Bob

[Guest guest]

I tried sending this yesterday to no avail; appologies if it appears

twice.

 

Mr. Flaws,

 

You disapprove of the doctoral degree and of the title " Doctor " (for

practitioners of CM in the U.S. who do not hold an M.D. degree)

primarily because the average graduate of Chinese medicine programs

in the U.S. does not " deserve " the appellation. You recommend

instead a title which is the pinyin transliteration of the Mandarin

word denoting " doctor, " and you further suggest adopting the Chinese

standard usage of placing the professional title after the last

name. Presenting a case for precedence, you allude to the rich

history in English of foreign-term borrowings, citing examples of

words with non-Anglo-Saxon roots which are in common usage,

including several honorifics (which unlike yi-sheng have no English

equivalents). You suppose that lack of creativity in reaching

consensus testifies to a lack of " smarts " within the profession, and

you seem to liken this quality among members of the profession to

the mediocrity which Americans look for in leaders: there is

precedent in the U.S. in granting even the highest honorific titles

to those lacking smarts. Finally, providing a few belittling

synonyms for " average, " you bemoan our sad state, in French.

 

Like that of Shakespeare's Holofernes, contrived foreign usage can

provide comic relief; in this case it also provides a deus ex

machina in the attempt to find the mot juste. The twangy

pronunciation [ya-shayng] is alone scary enough to dissuade me. In

any case, rest assured that it was only after the Norman Invasion

that the word " doctor " came to English, via French from the Latin

for " teacher, " so " doctor " may be further outside the Saxon box than

you realized!

 

In your zeal to protect the public from false claims of honor and

rank by CM graduates in the U.S., you reveal what may be behind

Chinese medicine's difficulty with self-labelling: low collective

self-esteem. Other professions (including Western medicine and

psychology) have suffered, especially in the early years, from the

inclusion of the hoi polloi among their ranks, but many seem to have

forged ahead, confidently making a name for themselves and working

to fulfil their reputations ex post facto.

 

I must admit that the label has never meant much to me, though I

find the term " doctor " fairly pretentious in common usage and

prefer " physician " in general. Remember that just as you pointed out

in the case of " yi-sheng, " the degree is usually separate from the

label. Someone with a doctorate in architecture is still an

architect, and please don't call me Master Hershowitz just yet. In

general I just explain that I practice OR do (Chinese medicine OR CM

OR TCM) OR (acupun* AND (herb* OR Chinese medicinal) AND (tui na OR

massotherapy OR bodywork OR massage) AND (adjunct therapies OR other

stuff like bleeding, vacuums and fire), and see how many hits I get.

But people see right through the act—they can tell I'm just a

middling American.

 

Sincerely,

 

Jonah Hershowitz

 

P.S.—It may appear that in meeting ostentatiousness with pedantry, I

seek quid pro quo. But nota bene that if my jestful irony is not a

beau geste it is nonetheless bona fide and I hope will raise some

smiles on the side.

 

P.P.S.--Is it possible to preserve formatting like italics in posts?

 

 

, " Bob Flaws "

<pemachophel2001> wrote:

 

----

As for our current graduates deserving to be called " doctor, " not on

the planet I live on.

 

Bob

 

>

> For those doctor wannabe's, go to med school.

>

> We are not going to solve any of our problems by aping the title of

> doctor, either with volutnary post-entry level eduction or entry-

level

> education going to a mandatory doctoral degree. If we continue to

take

> the same kind of students and teach them by the same kinds of

teachers

> in the same kinds of schools run by the same kinds of people, we

will

> get the same kinds of graduates. If those same old-same old

graduates

> call themselves doctors, we will be shooting ourselves in the foot

for

> sure.

>

> I still say we should simply adopt our own, unique title. Even if

it

> is a foreign word, like yi-sheng or yi-shi, with a little

consistent

> P.R. effort we can get the public to adopt it within a year or so,

no

> problem. Look how Madonna has made the word " kabbala " recognizable

to

> everyone in a period of 12 months or less. Most Americans are

> comfortable with foreign title words like sensei, sifu, mullah,

> ayatollah, mujaheddin, rabbi, rebbe, lama, rinpoche, yogi, etc. Who

> knew what a fatwa was three or four years ago? Or an RPG or IED?

Where

> did the words bagel, bialy, pizza, pannini, expresso, latte,

> bruschetta, salsa, fajitas, and tortilla come from? Not Anglo-

Saxon;

> that's for sure. Americans adopted the title " barista " without any

> hesitation, and we all now know what a grande is. So why not Flaws

> Yi-sheng, Luger Yi-sheng, and Marcus Yi-sheng? All it would take

is a

> will and some consistency of presentation.

>

> Are we so lacking in vision and the ability to think outside the

box?

> The fact that we cannot come up with a more creative solution to

the

> admitted issue of a workable title for members of our profession is

> itself testimony to our lack of smarts as a profession. But then

> Americans like our leaders to be average Joes, and average means

just

> that: ho-hum, medium, ma-ma hu-hu, not exceptional, not superior,

not

> great. Tant pis pour nous.

>

> Bob