The alleged "Master's Degree in chemistry"

[Igel]

10. He didn't claim it.

And translating degrees is a vexed nightmare.

Not only do they vary by country and system, but also over time.

So a "doctorate" means something different if it's Russian, German, or American. The American doctorate is more.

But there's a kind of degree that's harder than a doctorate, and for the life of me I have no idea what to call it in English because every translation that comes to mind is just wrong. After years of working as a professor or researcher it's a rather long, extended monograph in your field that is evaluated by a team of established researchers. An American PhD shows you can do reasonable research with guidance; the European "version" shows you can do masterful completely independent research on a large scale.

Same for medical degrees, secondary degrees, certifications and certificates of a thousand different kinds. Any translation points to something in the US system that is inappropriate. Even worse is when the term in the source language is itself ambiguous.

What's amusing is the knee-jerk reaction to a knee-jerk reaction. In an effort do point out how ignorant Santorum was, something false was said (it was welcomed here because it made Santorum look doltish). However, that made Francis look less doltish than many wanted. So now it's some sort of intentional overstatement to trick people--and since we now want Francis to seem doltish, that also works. (He is as he has been; all that's changing is the expediency of one perception over the other. The conversation is about us, not him.)