What is a “script”?

That is the spoken shorthand for prescription. It is very common in medical circles and among people who receives lots of them.

For as long as I can remember !

It’s also a small computer program often written in Java that does a specific task.

But yes, we say “script” all the time. It’s easier to say than “prescription”.

SCRIPT is the standard used by US pharmacies for electronic prescriptions. Suspect it maybe an acronym / backronym but I’ve no idea what it stands for.

Script is short for prescription in this context.
The symbol “Rx” is usually said to stand for the Latin word “recipe” meaning “to take.”

It’s just an abbreviation, taking a 3 syllable word and making it a 1 syllable word.

“RX” is shorter to write; however, “script” is shorter to say. When I was little everybody…including the doc…said “script”. Then people switched over to using “RX”. Then when saying “script” was easier, it was switched back but most still wrote it as “RX” & then said “script” when speaking.

It’s the written words for a movie or TV show.

I have heard “scrip” which makes more sense to me as the t is not pronounce the same in script and prescription.

I’ve been using script for prescription since I was a kid. I’m in my 50’s.

I also hear Rx used more now than I did previously, which is another synonym.

Growing up military we used to say chit for orders to get diagnostics done like blood tests and scans, I don’t think the private sector uses that, they say prescription or script for that too I think? Or, maybe an order? I’m not even sure what it’s called and I’ve been in private care 35 years.

Side note: I more often use OTC when it’s not a script than actually saying a medication is a prescription drug.

@kruger_d According to Wiki…

A scrip (or chit in India) is any substitute for legal tender. It is often a form of credit. Scrips have been created and used for a variety of reasons, including exploitive payment of employees under truck systems; or for use in local commerce at times when regular currency was unavailable, for example in remote coal towns, military bases, ships on long voyages, or occupied countries in wartime. Besides company scrip, other forms of scrip include land scrip, vouchers, token coins such as subway tokens, IOUs, arcade tokens and tickets, and points on some credit cards.

Scrips have gained historical importance and become a subject of study in numismatics and exonumia due to their wide variety and recurring use. Scrip behaves similarly to a currency, and as such can be used to study monetary economics.

With the “t” it’s an abbreviation for prescription.

@JLeslie chit is the perforated strips that one tore off computer printout in the 70s/80s when the paper came on roll.

@kruger_d I know. It also can be a voucher or memo, and in my case an order to get a test done.

@kruger_d the perforated strips of continuous computer paper (green bar) once removed are called edgings.
Chit is a term for an official note on a small piece of paper typically a voucher for monetary exchange. short for chitty.
Chad is the paper left from a hole in a punch card.
Chip is the circle of paper or plastic removed from a punched paper tape.
The devices that cut these out had “Chad” and “Chip buckets in the bottom of the machine.