I'd be most surprised to find an "engineer" within a mile of a car air conditioning system; "engineer" (along with "chef") is an incredibly over-used and abused word. Photocopiers, central heating systems and humble 1970s phone lines similarly do not need, and never had, "engineers" to service them!

Edited by Bilboman on 15/01/2011 at 21:35

Touché: As Area Manager of Cambridge University Press, I cannot fault your answer! However, rather than snobbery, my point is that the word technician is now mysteriously disregarded in favour of the term "engineer", which has become stretched almost to breaking point. It seems that anyone who has done any course in anything vaguely technical or electronic instantly becomes an "engineer"; I have engineers in my family who have amassed years of apprenticeships or university degrees. I much prefer the definition I found in an online dictionary "One who is trained or professionally engaged in a branch of engineering" (but please don't tell my manager!)

The most extreme example of title-consciousness (snobbery?) is to be found amongst Austrian engineers, who insist on being addressed as "Herr Diplom-Ingenieur Schmidt" in both professional and private life. (I don't think "Herr Klimaanlage-Ingenieur" would cut any ice at the Vienna Motor Show!)