There's no toaster here. Unless there's a toaster upstairs and the smell is getting down here.

So far there's no smoke or fire, so I guess I'm safe for the moment....

Skipping--again-sigh in order to post something that's not even for today, but for tomorrow, when I won't have any computer access: according to the Buffista Calendar, tomorrow, the 25th, will be Jessica and Fone Bone's anniversary, so early wishes for them both!

Smelling burnt toast.

What prompted the question was the various forms of address I was seeing used in the comments section of a scholar's blog. Some people were addressing him by his given name, which I would do with my online friends who have their doctorates. The people who were using titles though, seemed to shy away from "Dr." - in favor of "Prof." and the like. It confused me.

Ha. My boss went upstairs - someone up there burned some toast. (I just didn't think the smell could carry so strongly from up there.)

seemed to shy away from "Dr." - in favor of "Prof." and the like. It confused me.

He is a professor, I'm assuming?

Oddly, I called my mother Dr. Herlastname the other day (okay, that's not odd--I like to keep her on her toes). Buf for the first time she corrected me to Professor Herlastname.

But she's been a PhD much longer than she's had tenure. ~40 years vs. ~4. So the latter probably has more shine on.

Gender issues aside, my mother doesn't go by Dr. unless it's directly related to her research.

I would call your mom Dr. (lastname) unless she directed me otherwise, though. It's just presuming the respect first.

Cindy, at my university everyone who has a doctorate goes by Professor. At the college I attended, everyone who had a doctorate went by Dr. and everone who didn't (in arts programs this is fairly common) went by either Professor or their first name. So, when I started working here, I was surprised at all the people without doctorates teaching at this major research university. Of course, I was just dumb.

Anyhoo, I guess what I mean to say is that it varies, even within 2 colleges in the same town!

I looked up your toast question on Google and it pointed me to this story

[link]

Reading ahead a little bit, I see Google agrees with me and the smell is coming from a toaster.

I would call your mom Dr. (lastname) unless she directed me otherwise, though. It's just presuming the respect first.

But not Professor because she's not your professor? And I'm assuming you'd never call my sister Dr. (lastname) because she's more of a peer?

I do think that socially only medical doctors are Dr. But I'd need a google to get my brain to unsquirrel.