Feb 08, 2006

Pound
Why pound is written as 'lb'?
thefreedictionary.com:
[Middle English, from Old English pund, from West Germanic *punda-, from Latin (lbra) pond, (a pound) by weight; see (s)pen- in Indo-European roots.]
So may be its from Latin 'libra'

from answerbag.com

A pound is always written as "lb" to prevent confusion with pound (money) It is very old, traced back to the Roman "libra" (which explains its abreviation!). It was defined in England since Ethelred the Unready (968-1016). In fact, a pound (money) was originally a pound (weight) of silver, and the symbol for pound (money) is a stylised L.

Lampoon
To ridicule or satirize
[French lampon, perhaps from lampons, let us drink (from a common refrain in drinking songs), first person pl. imperative of lamper, to gulp down, of Germanic origin.]

the publication in Europe of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Muhammad

Slate
Cell is slated to run Sony Corp's upcoming PlayStation 3 video game system and high-definition TVs from Sony and Toshiba Corp.

List as candidate, probably comes from writing candidates' names on a piece of stone.

boon and bane
benefitial and harmful

The variables of trading and the opportunities that short-term price swings create for investors are both boon and bane