I recently visited my doctor & ended up with a prescription. After looking at the bottle, I wondered what that “Rx” means. Why does Rx mean “prescription”, when there’s neither an R or an X in the word prescription?

The pharmacy practice, or the preparation & dispensation of drugs, has been around for thousands of years. The world’s first recorded prescriptions were etched on a Mesopotamian clay tablet around 2100 B.C., while the first drugstores came about in the ancient city of Baghdad in the 8th century A.D. America’s earliest drugstores sprung up in the 17th century, in major cities like Boston & New York. But none of these established Rx as the symbol for prescription. So, where did it come from?

The Rx symbol is actually derived from the Latin word “recipere,” which means “to take” (which makes sense, given that you take or ingest medication). Now, there are some alternative theories, like the belief that Rx evolved from the Eye of Horus, an ancient Egyptian symbol associated with healing powers, or even the Jupiter symbol, which looks like an embellished version of the number 4. But, while the Rx can be stylistically written so that it looks similar to the Eye of Horus or Jupiter symbol, they’re clearly more artsy retrofitting than factual.

Prior to the 1950s, the majority of prescription medications in America were compounded by pharmacists, meaning that each medication was custom-made from raw ingredients, using a mortar & pestle, to suit each individual patient’s needs. But, in the mid-20th century, pharmacists began filling most prescriptions with mass-produced products produced by wholesale drug manufacturers. Still, nowadays the mortar & pestle remain a pharmacy industry symbol, most of the time showing up on drugstore signs right alongside the letters Rx (which, you know now what that means).

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With the cool snap we experienced this past weekend, you may have had to put on a jacket. Or, was it a coat? What’s the real difference between a coat & a jacket, anyway? Well, according to the professionals, there’s actually only one real distinct difference between a coat & a jacket.

A lot of people feel the two terms are interchangeable. Some believe a coat is a heavier garment, while a jacket is thinner and/or lighter. But, according to the outerwear company Lands’ End, it really actually comes down to…length. Jackets usually cut off around your waist or hips, while coats, on the other hand, don’t stop until they’re part way down your legs (some even going all the way down to your ankles). When we laymen say “jackets”, we mostly mean jean jackets, bomber jackets, leather jackets, starter jackets, and suit jackets. And think about it…all of those are short. Trench coats & overcoats, on the other hand, are usually long. Now, of course there are exceptions, like sport coats, which are shorter. The same goes for pea coats.

The level of warmth each one offers actually does matter, though it’s not so much about their thickness and/or heaviness. Think about it, though: coats (which are longer) cover more of you, so they’re generally considered the warmer option based sheerly on the amount of surface area they cover. However, there are so many exceptions to that particular trend that it doesn’t really work as a way to tell the two apart. Plus, there are plenty of jackets that are made from down feathers or other heavy-duty materials, which are much better at keeping you from being cold than, say, a trench coat would be.

Still, in the end, it really shouldn’t matter if you mix up the two terms in casual conversation, calling a jacket a coat or vice versa. Folks generally will know what you’re talking about. But, knowing the real difference might be able to help you narrow down your search the next time you’re shopping online for your next coat or jacket.

Got a Mundane Mystery you’d like solved? Send me a message via social media (@AndyWebbRadioVoice), or shoot me an email at [email protected].

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