[comp.sys.amiga] NOT SO interesting stuff on character names...

swordfis@pnet51.cts.com (Tim Mitchell) (08/22/88)

Has anyone else wondered how "lbs." got to be an abbreviation of "pounds"?
Anyone know?

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papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) (08/23/88)

In article <3@orbit.UUCP> swordfis@pnet51.cts.com (Tim Mitchell) writes:
>Has anyone else wondered how "lbs." got to be an abbreviation of "pounds"?
>Anyone know?

Well, that's easy for an Italian! "lbs." comes from the Latin word "libra"
(libbra in Italian) which "was" a widely used measure of weight in Europe.
I say "was" since almost all of Europe (but not the UK for example) now 
uses the metric system, and therefore kilograms and not pounds.

-- Marco Papa 'Doc'
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