O/T: Question for the Brits

[zeus60]

I've got a question for the Brits, and perhaps for folks in other English-speaking countries.  I was watching an episode of Death In Paradise (an excellent series).  It takes place at an island in the Caribbean, where an English police inspector is sent to supervise the local police.  This episode took place at a medical clinic.  The guy who ran the clinic was a British surgeon, and was addressed as "Mr. Tipping."  They even made a point of mentioning that because he was a surgeon he was addressed as Mr., rather than Dr.  Here is the US, it is customary to address surgeons as Dr. just like other doctors.  In the UK, are surgeons referred to as Mr./Ms.?  I'm kind of curious to know about other English-speaking countries too.

Edited July 3, 2017 by zeus60

[Stephen]

In the UK they are addressed as "Mr" . My mother was a nurse and I remember her telling me that fact when I was a child .

[martin_sam_2000]

It is Dr. here in Canada.

 

 Sean

[zeus60]

Interestingly enough, another character in the episode was a psychologist, and she went by Dr.

[MoFo]

Searched Google for 'dr vs mr'; here are a couple of hits with explanations.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1119265/

http://www.sgu.edu/news-and-events/surgeon-titles-dr-vs-mr/ 

 

 

[zeus60]

Thanks for the links, MoFo.  That does explain it.  After all, we don't have the long history here in the US!

[Nigel Bunker]

All Surgeons are not Mr. In the UK, all doctors are called Dr. until they reach the exalted rank of Consultant, who is a senior doctor who has overall responsibility for the care of patients in hospital. Once they become a Consultant, they are addressed as Mr. And I don't have a clue why, but's that the way it is here. Most UK surgeons are of consultant rank - you wouldn't want just anybody cutting into you.

Edited July 4, 2017 by Nigel Bunker
speling!

[zeus60]

One of the links in MoFo's post indicated that the Mr really means Master, so it is an honorific.

[Scooby]

On 2017-07-04 at 10:42 AM, zeus60 said:

One of the links in MoFo's post indicated that the Mr really means Master, so it is an honorific.

 

This is a true story, a friend of mine grew up in England.

 

He had a teacher (refereed as Master), who had the last name Bates. He always killed himself laughing whenever he told the story of referring to his teach as.....