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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

why is it called "over the counter"?

I was just wondering why over the counter is called over the counter. "Over" would either mean "across" or "above", right? And the counter is where you go to talk to the clerk or pharmacist. Okay, what's across the counter from me are the prescription meds that the pharmacists have to get for me...and what's above the counter is nothing. Is the "over the counter" meaning "on the other side of the counter" from the pharmacist's perspective? Wouldn't it just make more sense to call the over the counter medicines nonprescription or on the shelf medications?
Answer:
Way back in the day, when you went into a drug store, you told the clerk on the other side of the counter what you medicines you wanted and they would turn to their row of shelves, find you the medicine or tonic or whatever and pass it to you "over the counter" as you paid your money. This was as long as the medicine in question did not require a prescription. If it was, then the pharmacist, as opposed to the clerk, would have to fill the prescription.
Nowadays, in an era of self-service, we don't need to go to the pharmacist's counter or the clerk's counter to get OTC medicines. The phrase, however, has remained, even if the method has changed.
Over the counter drugs are drugs like aspirin that you don't need a prescription for. Just a term doctors use for medicine that's out on the shelves.
They are "over the counter" because you don't need a prescription for them but you still need to get them from a pharmacist so you don't use them for the wrong reasons.
That always confuses me, too. It makes no sense. I had never thought that it might be from the pharmacist's perspective. But I agree, let's get them to switch it to prescrip. and nonprescript.!
who cares??why do u worry about that too much??just call it watever you like.
It only means that you don't need a prescription to buy them.
O.K. . . . . let's see . . . . We have a pharmacy and the prescribed by doctor drugs are kept BEHIND the counter and need a prescription. If the pharmacist is BEHIND the counter, then the shelves with the aspirine and pepto bismol are OVER the counter and you can get them yourself because you don't need a prescription.I am not trying to be cute here . . . just trying to see if this makes any sense to anyone. We could put this to music: Over the counter and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go . . . ." I always need aspirin when I visit my grandmother . . . .
Not listed or available on an officially recognized stock exchange but traded in direct negotiation between buyers and sellers: over-the-counter stocks.
That can be sold legally without a doctor's prescription: over-the-counter drugs.

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