Using possessive pronouns for an academic degree (e.g. my masters degree) [closed]

One of my pet peeves...people using the possessive pronoun to refer to a graduate degree. For instance, people saying I'm going to get "my doctorate" or writing "while working on my master's degree......"

There's something annoying about using the possessive pronoun in these situations, maybe it's an entitled way of claiming ownership of a degree, sometimes ones that they don't even have yet. It's very common to hear in academia, college students looking ahead and saying "when I get my doctorate degree." I don't feel that I own a doctorate degree, I have a doctorate degree.

Am I splitting hairs or technically incorrect? and for the record I don't correct or question people when they use these possessive pronouns.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Solution 1:

One of the accepted meanings of my is

used to emphasize that something belongs to or is connected with me and no one else:

Cambridge Dictionary

That being so, I would legitimately refer to my qualifications, being that set of qualifications that pertains to or is connected (by academic records) to me.

It seems reasonable therefore to refer to my accredited (being a structured and formal arrangement between the university and me - only me) course of study, work and research that pertains to pursuit of a doctorate as my doctorate.

Solution 2:

Your pet peeve appears to be misplaced.

Possessives in English aren't always "an entitled way of claiming ownership", as the opening sentence of your question demonstrates. When you say "my pet peeves", you're not asserting an entitled claim of possessing that pet peeve.

Consider the following:

• My country (the country I belong to, not a country I own)
• My friends (the people I consider to be friends, not friends I own)
• My table at the restaurant (a table I'm allocated, not one I own)
• Its owner (the person who owns the dog, not the person that the dog owns)

Possessives convey association, but that association doesn't need to be one of ownership.

Using the phrase "my degree" claims association with the degree. Since one is said to "earn" a degree, there is some weight to the argument that the degree is 'owned', perhaps in the future, contingent on various factors such as passing exams. However, the major sense isn't one of ownership. Instead, it is one of narrowing the scope of awarded or anticipated qualifications to the one associated with the speaker.

As such, "my masters degree", "my doctorate", etc are completely regular uses of the possessive.