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Is it true that "Mrs. Doctor X" means "a wife of Doctor X" and not that the lady herself is a doctor?
by huhtenberg 4y ago
Is it true that "Mrs. Doctor X" means "a wife of Doctor X" and not that the lady herself is a doctor?
- kgwgk 4y agoIt could be - just like how Mrs. Thomas Jefferson’s name was Martha and not Thomas.
- luckylion 4y agoThere was no difference in German, it was "Herr Doktor" ("Mr Doctor") and you'd address his wife "Frau Doktor" ("Mrs Doctor"), so you couldn't tell who of them actually held the title (not sure what happened after divorce). Today, you need to get your own title, no more shared titles through marriage.
- algorias 4y agoIn an archaic form it does. But nowadays "Frau Doktor" usually refers to a woman who is a doctor, as "Doktor" has a male grammatical gender, so it's awkward to address a woman only as "Doktor X", even though that's technically acceptable. The grammatically female word "Doktorin" has not caught on, even though it's also correct.
- greenicon 4y agoIn Germany historically yes, but today most people mean the person him/herself.
- zyx321 4y agoA hundred and fifty years ago, yes. Fifty years ago, could be either. Nowadays, no.
- SeanLuke 4y agoThis used to be true for English as well.