Doctor and Mister

August 30, 2006

UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY: Gentlemen, silence! (to Dr. Evil) NOW, MR. EVIL
DR. EVIL: (angry) Doctor Evil! I didn’t spend six years in evil medical school to be called ‘mister’.

Interesting isn’t it, in the United Kingdom, surgeons are distinguished from physicians by being referred to as “Mister”. This tradition has its origins in the 18th century, when surgeons were barber-surgeons and did not have a degree (or indeed any formal qualification), unlike physicians, who were doctors with a university medical degree. By the beginning of the 19th century, surgeons had obtained high status, and in 1800, the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) in London began to offer surgeons a formal status via RCS membership. The title Mister became a badge of honour, and today only surgeons who hold the Membership or Fellowship of one of the Royal Surgical Colleges are entitled to call themselves Mister, Miss, Mrs or Ms. [Development of modern surgery]

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