| rdfs:comment | - If someone in TV-land is referred to as "the doctor", it means he's a medical doctor. It might not be explicitly mentioned, possibly even outright denied, but anyone called the doctor seems to be able to deliver any and all surgical operations and medical Techno Babble required by the plot. There are no exceptions (well, other than him). All those other guys who've got doctorates in science, law and philosophy are helpfully distinguished from real doctors with vaguely-academic titles like "professor", if they're even awarded one at all.
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| abstract | - If someone in TV-land is referred to as "the doctor", it means he's a medical doctor. It might not be explicitly mentioned, possibly even outright denied, but anyone called the doctor seems to be able to deliver any and all surgical operations and medical Techno Babble required by the plot. There are no exceptions (well, other than him). All those other guys who've got doctorates in science, law and philosophy are helpfully distinguished from real doctors with vaguely-academic titles like "professor", if they're even awarded one at all. This trope stems from a modern convention: in the past, "Doctor" had a purely academic connotation -- the word itself derives from the Latin doctor, meaning "teacher". At some point, the word (in English, at least) began to shift from being the title of a learned person/a person with a doctorate to meaning the same as "physician". Originally, the M.D. was a doctorate in medicine, but in some places, like the US and Canada, it became the first professional degree. (In the UK and Ireland an MB ChB -- bachelor of medicine & surgery -- are the first undergraduate degrees; holders are addressed as "Doctor" regardless. While Surgeons -- which require a graduate degree, equivalent to a North American MD in length of education -- are only addressed as Mr, Mrs, or Miss in a form of reverse snobbery.) It is easy to see how the term "doctor" was slowly divorced from its academic roots. This has gone so far that it is common for it to be thought that "real" doctors are physicians... which brings us to this trope. And MD Envy to boot. Certain professions blur the line. A psychiatrist or forensic pathologist will necessarily have a medical doctorate, but their main occupation isn't taking care of people's cuts and sniffles. If they're suddenly forced to act like that kind of doctor--like, say, they're on hand when someone gets hit by a car--expect them to act awkward and unsure before they save the day. Not to be confused with Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate. See also Open-Heart Dentistry and Omnidisciplinary Scientist. Compare All Monks Know Kung Fu (which is, basically, Not That Kind Of Monk) and Not That Kind of Mage, where someone good at one form of wizardry is unskilled at another. Contrast with Super Doc, when the Doctor can heal you no matter what his field is. Note that this trope holds water only in certain languages, such as English; other languages were smart enough to create different words to distinguish between MDs and PhDs. An example would be Chinese, where the medical professionals are addressed as [Surname] yīshēng while academics get [Surname] bóshì.
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