Needed: an Rx for society and economy.
-----Original Message----- From: Wordsmith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, July 7, 2003 12:03 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Rx Rx (ahr-eks) noun 1. A prescription. 2. A solution to a problem. [Abbreviation of Latin recipe (take), imperative of recipere (to take), from re- + capere (to take).] "The Scrubs star dishes about her coworkers' embarrassing pranks and the Rx for romance." Lesley Goober; TV's Resident Cutie; Cosmopolitan (New York); May 2003. "Congressmen recently offered an Rx for sky-high medical malpractice awards by approving a $250,000 cap." Pain vs. Premiums; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Mar 23, 2003. If you ever wondered what that mysterious Rx sign meant in the prescription your doctor wrote, now you know. Going by how often a doctor has to write prescriptions, it's no coincidence it's abbreviated. Rx has a handful of cousins, dx: diagnosis, hx: history, sx: symptoms, and tx: treatment. Doctors and pharmacists ('chemists' for those of you in British Commonwealth countries) use a code language and if you were curious to know what your prescription means, check out this decoder: http://mlanet.org/resources/medspeak/medshort.html The rest of the week we'll look at abbreviations and acronyms (words formed from initial letters, such as RADAR) from other fields. -Anu [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sponsored by AdmissionKey: Thinking of MBA, LAW or MED School? Former admissions staff can help. http://admissionskey.com And Try an awesome stress reliever: Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty! In adult-sized handfuls and amazing colors, http://puttyworld.com ............................................................................ An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field. -Niels Bohr, physicist (1885-1962) Send your comments to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "Subject:" line as "subscribe <Name>" or "unsubscribe". Archives, FAQ, gift subscription form, bulletin board, and more at http://wordsmith.org/awad/ Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/Rx.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/Rx.ram _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
