Oh, god - apparently, it's to support IE5.5 and to allow "</script>" to be embedded in a "<script></script>" pair and not be interpreted as closing the script.

Oh, god - apparently, it's to support IE5.5 and to allow "</script>" to be embedded in a "<script></script>" pair and not be interpreted as closing the script. I wish I hadn't asked, and I wish I hadn't then gone and found out ...