When Marty goes to the Brown mansion for the first time, he addresses its owner the way that he always does. There is no objection to that despite the scientist having no idea who the boy is. 'Doc' must be something that Emmett lets children call him even if they are strangers, not a private matter between friends as the audience might initially think.
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Doc Brown was most likely a PhD in one of the sciences, so being addressed as "doc" wouldn't necessarily set off any alarm bells in Doc's head - I mean, the guy was so concerned with whether his mind reading apparatus worked or not that he grabbed the strange kid and pulled him inside the house to use him as a test subject when it didn't work on his dog.
At that time he was not yet bankrupt and has still the mansion of his family. He only lose everything in the next 30 years.
I doubt back then he was already known as the weird guy to the kids, as they are way less exposed. This for sure changed after only the garage was left and the Burger King was build.
Anyway, I call my marketing PhD friend always Doc, because we have another friend with the same first name.
Here in the context, I think Doc Brown just let it pass, as he is already happy enough, that his idea really worked. And as he was at the time - I guess - already Doc Brown, would give it a pass.
Thank you, xergan. When Marty goes to the Brown mansion, Emmett does not yet know that his time machine works or even that he has built it. Therefore, the man allows the informality simply due to his visitor being a child. Since you mention that in the fifties Doc is not yet the wild town scientist, do you take the nickname as a derogatory term? The local kids say it affectionately. However, it does seem that by the time Marty is in high school, some residents, including older ones, are using the moniker in an insulting manner.
shareEven though Marty hasn't met him before, he's probably known in the community as "Doc", and informally referred to and addressed that way. Doc is not a personal nickname in this character's case, but it can be one--for example, trumpet player Doc Severinsen, who does not have a Ph.D. or a medical degree, but was given the nickname by his family when he was a child.
shareThank you, liscarkat. That is what I'm talking about. Adults address Emmett as 'Dr. Brown', but the man lets kids be more casual and use the nickname. Marty is allowed to do it in 1955 only because of his age since he's not yet a friend of Emmett's. The scientist seems accustomed to juvenile strangers calling him 'Doc'.
shareWhy would there be an objection?
He's a Doctor. It's hardly the hugest stretch to work out why somebody would call you; "Doc".
Bear in mind, on their "first" meeting, Doc thought that Marty was somebody trying to play a practical joke on him by pretending to be a time traveller from the future. He may have just assumed Marty was calling him a casual name to imply familiarity as part of the joke.
And it wouldn't really have added anything to the plot for them to have a discussion as to what Doc preferred to be called. It would've slowed down the story, if anything. And they'd already done the; "Hey. Dad. George.... You on the bike" joke with Marty being unsure what to call his dad. And the similar; "You're my mum...." dialogue with Lorraine. Having that confusion a third time might have felt like they were overdoing it.
Thank you, hurricane. 'Doc' is an informal name, not a title, so it is awkward and a bit insolent for it to be delivered by a stranger. Emmett isn't a doctor; he has a doctorate degree in science. You have an interesting and creative point about the possibility of a joke as far as the inventor thinks and knows. Also, Marty is not confused about what to call his parents, he accidentally refers to George as his father out of force of habit and is simply surprised to see his mother as a teenager.
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