|
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1
stranger
|
OP
stranger
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1 |
why do people love to preface the word doctor with good? my father always says the 'good' doctor and it is commonly said in all forms of media. does anyone know the origin?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
Maybe the encomium is used to distingush the doctor from a quack or a witch doctor. :)
Actually, the term "the good doctor" brings to mind the venerable salutation "my good fellow". It's a sign of respect, wouldn't you say?*
Doctors represent the only traditional profession which commands any respect in the estimation of the average citizen nowadays, and even that respect is a pale shadow of what it once was when the term "the good doctor" was in vogue in much simpler, less litigious times. In those days, doctors made house calls and received payment in kind more often than with money, particularly during the Depression.
Back then, being a doctor was more of a calling, like the priesthood, than a profession.
* Good Dictionary.com
6. Worthy of respect; honorable
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
prolly not the origin, but..
A doctor, like anyone else who has to deal with human beings, each of them unique, cannot be a scientist; he is either, like the surgeon, a craftsman, or, like the physician and the psychologist, an artist. This means that in order to be a good doctor a man must also have a good character, that is to say, whatever weaknesses and foibles he may have, he must love his fellow human beings in the concrete and desire their good before his own. - W. H. Auden
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
he must love his fellow human beings --- and desire their good before his own
Yeah, that gets to the heart of it, tsuwm. Nice quote.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Of course, the quintessential Good Doctor had his doctorate in biochemistry. http://www.nndb.com/people/702/000023633/
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
Hogwash, Faldage. The Good Doctor was the nickname-of-honor bestowed by the people as well as the literati on Anton Chekhov, the great Russian playwright, poet, and, arguably, the greatest short story writer ever who is credited with elevating the modern short story to an art form...with Somerset Maugham and Guy de Maupassant close seconds. "The Good Doctor" is also the title of a play written in tribute to Chekhov by Neil Simon. http://www.stfm.org/fmhub/Fullpdf/Jan01/lame.pdfhttp://www.eldritchpress.org/ac/yr/Anton_Chekhov.htmlhttp://www.players.rpi.edu/current_season/72/good_doctor.phpTherefore, I assert to my good friend, Faldage, across the aisle, that Asimov is far removed from the quintessential "Good Doctor"...that honor belongs to Anton Chekhov.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027
old hand
|
old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027 |
Hi Britt, Curiously enough, this phrase seems to be limited to the English language. It is not current either in German or French.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Anton Chekhov
So what was Asimov, the quartessential Good Doctor?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
Quantumessential possibly.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,371
Members9,182
|
Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
1 members (A C Bowden),
765
guests, and
3
robots. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|