<p>Suzy:</p>
<p>Love the story!
We, too, have Ph.Ds; I, too, think, it's pretentious to use Dr. outside of academia.</p>
<p>There's a scene from an 80's movie (Desperately Seeking Susan, I think?), where a woman at a party asks about a man she sees across the room. He is identified as Dr. So & So and she's thrilled that he's a doctor. When told that he's a dentist, she's disappointed but then says, "At least he's not a Ph.D.!" Sorry if this is straying from the thread, but laughter is good for me during the college search.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>My husband and I have doctorates and the only people who ever refer to us as Dr. are his parents, who are very hung up on the supposed prestige of it. (We laugh about it)<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>About the only person whoever insisted on calling me "Dr. _____" was the daycare woman who took care of my elder daughter when she was very young. She prided herself in accepting only the highest quality babies into her program, a concept I thought was rather humorous but she took seriously. I suppose calling the parents by their academic titles affirmed her belief in the high quality of her clientele. Whatever the case, I was pleased with the high quality of care my daughter received there, so if being called Dr. was part of the price for that, I was willing to pay it.</p>
<p>The only "Dr" wife and I have gotten in years is on fundraising letters from our kids' colleges, thanks to those application forms, which require disclosure of parents' educational attainments.</p>