Are There Advancement opportunities for a Podiatrists?

Podiatrists are not physicians. This is unambiguous, by standards of convention or dictionary definition. Medical doctors (MDs) and doctors of osteopathy (DOs) are the only people who are physicians.

"Doctor" is a tricky Word. I have a Ph.D. in English, and while the 'D' stands for "Doctor", it would be misleading for me to tell people that I'm a doctor, owing to conventional usage. Similarly, while podiatrists have DPMs (Doctors of Podiatric Medicine), it would be misleading for them to call themselves doctors in the normal sense. If I tell someone I'm a doctor, they have a reasonable expectation that I have an M.D. or a D.O.

This is a case where the conventional scope of a Word is smaller than the technical scope: podiatrists are technically doctors, but not conventionally. Contrast this with the Word 'Kleenex', whose conventional scope is larger than its technical scope. In both cases, the technical side has fought against the conventional side, but alas, convention always wins out.

So, if I ask for a Kleenex you may hand me a Wal-Mart brand facial tissue, and if I ask a podiatrist if he's a doctor, he should not say 'yes'. Podiatrists are not physicians. This is unambiguous, by standards of convention or dictionary definition. Medical doctors (MDs) and doctors of osteopathy (DOs) are the only people who are physicians.

"Doctor" is a tricky Word. I have a Ph.D. in English, and while the 'D' stands for "Doctor", it would be misleading for me to tell people that I'm a doctor, owing to conventional usage. Similarly, while podiatrists have DPMs (Doctors of Podiatric Medicine), it would be misleading for them to call themselves doctors in the normal sense. If I tell someone I'm a doctor, they have a reasonable expectation that I have an M.D. or a D.O.

This is a case where the conventional scope of a Word is smaller than the technical scope: podiatrists are technically doctors, but not conventionally. Contrast this with the Word 'Kleenex', whose conventional scope is larger than its technical scope. In both cases, the technical side has fought against the conventional side, but alas, convention always wins out.

So, if I ask for a Kleenex you may hand me a Wal-Mart brand facial tissue, and if I ask a podiatrist if he's a doctor, he should not say 'yes'.