'MURICA!

most irrelevant comment award goes to.. #14!

Actually 42, I think you get that award. Have a wonderful day.

There are stupid people everywhere and you saying "'murica" proves you are one of them.

Americans are so dumb..

No

Generalizing an entire country to be unintelligent is dumb.

That's just the soberness talking...

Omg. This one kid in my class in grade four spent a week trying to convince people it was labs so he wouldn't sound like an idiot. He even tried to show us what a lab was... ... Apparently it had something to do with fat... ...

#14 was obviously making a joke. And I find it quite fitting, as our educational system has been on the decline as it relates to other first world countries for years. Anyway, OP...how did you go through your whole life with no one correcting you? No one, seriously? Lol. I guess they just politely smiled and nodded whenever you said "labs" and assumed it was some sophisticated term they had never heard of or something.

What school have you guys gone to? Mine was not easy and it was a private school. Had lots taking college course.

#126 A lot of kids went/go to public school where the education is severely lacking.

I dunno I went to American public school and I knew it was pounds. I think that was covered pretty early on, like early elementary school. In fact, OP's mistake is so unbelievable to me, I actually just came to look at the comments to see if anyone else had ever made this mistake or even heard of someone doing it.

Metric system rocks the world of abbreviations!

The form lb is actually an abbreviation of the Latin word libra, which could mean a pound, itself a shortened form of the full expression, libra pondo, “pound weight”. The second word of this phrase, by the way, is the origin of the English pound. That's also why the £ symbol resembles an L with a line through it, for Libra.

lol peed my pants reading the comments under this section.

Stereotypical much? I'm American, but I'm not stupid. I have both common sense and graduated with a bachelors degree.

Common sense isn't so common anymore...

Actually, though it's used for pounds, it's actually short for libra. Libra being from the zodiac and looks like weight scales.

Someone must have googled it -_-

Both the English word 'pound' and it's abbreviation 'lbs' come from the same term, which is a Roman unit of weight (I don't feel like googling the exact term, but it's something like 'libra pondo')-- hence the seemingly unconnected abbreviation. My freshman do a Latin root word etymology project every year and this one always comes up.

I just had a G.I. Joe moment... Ty #10.. I didn't know that :)

'Libra' is also Spanish for pound.

Yes, and "libbra" is the Italian word for pound.

And, "livre" is the French word for pound...all from the same Latin root! :)

Yes because I, too, look up the meanings behind weight measurement abbreviations in my free time.

The fml just doesn't make sense though. When the lb. abbreviation is used it is usually always clearly meant to be pounds. Someone doesn't buy 10 "labs" of potatoes. Either the FML is fake or the OP can't grasp basic problem solving such deductive reasoning.

68 - maybe that's the problem... If I were the OP I'd be curious as to why "labs" was short for pounds, or why they sell groceries by the "labs" rather than pounds...

I'm with you, 82. This is something that OP could have figured out through reading comprehension and curiosity, even if no one had taught it to her directly.

OP didn't assume though, he most likely thought he knew.

what does YDI mean?

what does OP mean?

YDI is you deserve it, and OP refers to original poster.

Brandi - Smh. You do realize that's exactly what assuming is right? Thinking you know something when you don't...

Why is this so downvoted? Is it not normal to look up something i don't know? I do it all the time.

I know right, I guess just cause I said YDI they hate on it. There has been a lot of things I misinterpret or say that I was never taught the correct way and I've looked it up and corrected myself.

Yeah. OP either didn't pay attention at all in school or has mean friends... Or both

Or friends that are just as "smart."

Or no friends...

urban dictionary? for this?

Some Urban Dictionary definitions for "lbs": Laughing But Serious Little Bitch Syndrome Loose Bowel Syndrome Local Bike Shop So yeah, I don't think Urban Dictionary is the place to go for this...

I agree with what you're saying but the second one on the list for urban dictionary (for the app it is atleast) is pounds and it clearly states that it is weight.

You know that Oz came from ounces though, right?

#52: And here I thought ounces (oz.) came from drinking too much ouzo.

I think #6 is referring to the fictional location, as in The Wizard of Oz. Which is not named for the ounces abbreviation, by the way; Baum got it from his filing cabinet's "O-Z" drawer.

The whole Wizard of Oz movie is based on the Populist political movement. Wizards balloon, the movement sweeping the nation like a tornado... even the fact that many people thought McKinley was so old he would fall asleep on the job - hence the poppy fields. The yellow brick road, gold, and her shoes were originally silver not ruby. And yes, Oz just happens just stand for ounces. Maybe his file cabinet too, whatever, but research the politcal populist movement worked into the movie, its crazy how much is put into everything.

I'm relatively well-read and well-educated and there are several words I've come to realize that I've mispronounced most of my life, mainly because I've only read them in print and somehow never connected the words I read to words I heard. It happens to the best of us-- a piece of common knowledge we should know that just slips through the cracks of our mind. It's best to laugh about it and learn from it.

It's like that for many of us. I've only recently learned I've been pronouncing the word epitome incorrectly. I say it like it rhymes with episode. I've seen the word many times in books but never heard it said so I pronounced it wrong all my life.

I remember learning abbreviations in school for certain things, such as ounces and pounds. "The abbreviation for pounds is 'lbs'." So days the teacher. So I was truly wondering if OP was taught or not. Who knows what they teach in school now.

It sure has amassed a lot of comments.

...from those who understand the gravity of the situation.