Saying eye doctor in a conversation feels normal. Saying tooth doctor feels like listening to someone who had a bad disco elysium roll and they’re punching themselves in the face to get the words out.

        • Lem Jukes@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          I think the ‘easier to say’ part is the key thing here. “Pee-dee-atrition” is a lot easier for most English speakers that “op-tha-mologist”. I think the “th” throws people off enough to just say “eye doc”

          • Kalash@feddit.ch
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            1 year ago

            I don’t quite see it, but I’m used to saying opthamologist because of Tim Minchin and I’m not a native speaker. But seems plausible.

        • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Well you could just shorten it and call them a paedo.

        • fubo@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          In the US at least, an optician is specifically a vendor of eyeglasses. The person who measures your vision and gives you the prescription is usually an optometrist. Neither of the above are physicians; whereas an ophthalmologist is a physician who treats eye diseases.