Lb for Pound

Dear Slug,

Why is the abbreviation for "pound," "lb"? Don't abbreviators (abbreviatrixes?) know how to spell?

~Cornfused in Iowa

Dear Corn-IA,

Of course abbreviators don't know how to spell. If they did, they would write the whole word. You have come up with the perfect example of that. The abbreviation "lb" (plural: lbs) comes from the Latin phrase "libra pondo," roughly translated to "balance of weight" (libra is the balance part of the phrase). Now, you'd think that the lazy abbreviator would choose "lp" as the logical shorthand,  but apparently the person in charge of the Office of Abbreviations that day did not want the load he was toting to be confused with his "Best of Styx" vinyl collection, so off with the LP.  

The next logical choice would have been "li" if we were to begin with the beginning and stop just short of there, but thanks to the complete lack of spelling ability, we are stuck with "lb" to baffle children and adults across the English-speaking world.  

It's a good thing I speak sluggish. We abbreviate pounds based on the subject being measured. For example, 38 pounds of fallen apples is abbreviated (in approximate English spelling) as 38yum. If that number were, instead of pounds, 38 tons (or tonnes for our Canadian and UK friends) that would be written as 38YUM. Two thousand pounds of approaching car, however, would be 2000ack! See how simple that is?

Thanks for asking a slug.

~A nameless slug in the Pacific Northwest