Optometrist? What's wrong with optician?

chocsessential

Just a minor vent really but it does annoy me. When did we start calling them optometrists rather than opticians? We used to differentiate between opthalmic opticians and the dispensing ones but is this not the case any more?

Actually it's not much of a vent it it? More like a couple of questions I'd like the answers to

Andy_L

I think its because Opticians only do vision correction whilst optometrists do eye "health treatment stuff"

nedmundo

You could just put it down to evolution. Optometrist is originally an american term and is used to differentiate us from dispensing opticians, who deal with spectacles and some fit contact lenses.

Perrsonally, I prefer optician.

squack

yes its just another facet of broken britain

on the other hand i was watching a programme the other day and they referred to a chap as a "child doctor", presumably because labelling him a "peediatrician" would have resulted in him being spat at in the street and his home being fire bombed

chocsessential

nedmundo wrote: »

You could just put it down to evolution. Optometrist is originally an american term and is used to differentiate us from dipensing opticians, who deal with spectacles and some fit contact lenses.

Perrsonally, I prefer optician.

I prefer optician too - for one thing it's easier to pronounce!:rotfl:

chocsessential

squack wrote: »

yes its just another facet of broken britain

on the other hand i was watching a programme the other day and they referred to a chap as a "child doctor", presumably because labelling him a "peediatrician" would have resulted in him being spat at in the street and his home being fire bombed

I hate this dumbing down too. The doctor should be called a paediatrician, and if people don't know what the word means they should find out. Why has everyone got to cater for the lowest common denominator these days?

tidus

"Optician" can mean Opthalmic Optician, Dispensing Optician, or a Opticians practice/shop.

Optometrist only means Opthalmic Optician. Optometrist has been in use for the best part of 15 years now. Its a bit like "Pharmacist" - we don't refer to them as "Chemist" any more. The word is just a better description.

Butterfly_Brain

It's yet another Americanisation - I hate it too

fluffnutter

Whilst optometrist is used commonly in the USA, there are still subtle differences between optometrists and opticians (and ophthalmologists).

http://www.knewance.com/latest/ophthalmologist-v-optometrist-v-optician.html

ses6jwg

squack wrote: »

yes its just another facet of broken britain

on the other hand i was watching a programme the other day and they referred to a chap as a "child doctor", presumably because labelling him a "peediatrician" would have resulted in him being spat at in the street and his home being fire bombed

What a load of cobblers.

You need to get out more me thinks.

fluffnutter

squack wrote: »

on the other hand i was watching a programme the other day and they referred to a chap as a "child doctor", presumably because labelling him a "peediatrician" would have resulted in him being spat at in the street and his home being fire bombed

ses6jwg wrote: »

What a load of cobblers.

You need to get out more me thinks.

I saw that. It was masterchef. And I thought the same as squack; that they'd deliberately not used the word just in case someone from paulsgrove confused it with peadophile. And I get out a lot.