Tooth doctor doesn't have the same ring as eye doctor
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.
Technically a general eye doctor would be an opthalmologist. An optician is someone who makes lenses. The person you see for an eye test at the opticians is an optometrist (someone who measures what strength lenses you need).
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”
It’s even harder to spell than it is to say “ophthalmologist” What are the extra h and l doing there? I don’t know. Most people forget them. Another English word not really pronounced like it’s spelled. Trips me up every time I try to type it out. Optometrist, the non-MD eye doctor, much easier to say and spell.
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.
The one that always bothered me is Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Arzt. Why is it Nasen? We only have one. It should either be Hälse-Nasen-Ohren Arzt or Hals-Nase-Ohren-Arzt.
I assume it’s for the same reason you say Nasendusche, Nasenrücken or Nasenbluten but Halsschmerzen or Halstuch (though I’m not sure what’s the exact grammatical reason). It has nothing to do with the number of noses. I think it would be Augenarzt and not Augearzt even if we had only one eye.
But that’s because you learned english and know it’s called a vet. Direct word-for-word translations are often supposed to be weird because that’s just not how it works.
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