interesting point about email signatures

 

Apologies for going off-topic here.


I might be one of those people who include my degree abbreviations after my name in professional emails. But it makes me wonder, is it really about insecurity for the writer or the reader? I mean, if someone has earned those degrees, why not let others know?

In countries like Switzerland, Germany, and Austria, it's pretty common and usually not seen as rude, especially if you're in academia. They've even got a system to tell the difference between medical doctors and non-medical ones, like Dr. med. for medical doctors and Dr. rer. nat. for scientists.

I've noticed that in the U.S., things are more laid-back. I've always been curious about why that's the case.
For example, if you put "Dr." or "Ph.D." after your name, does that really mean you're insecure? Or is it more about a reader without those degrees feeling like it's unnecessary?

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