On Sat, 1 Dec 2018 22:43:46 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , Mayayana
writes:
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote

| In the US, # is most commonly a pound sign because
| in public it's most often used to mark items for sale by
| weight.
|
| That's interesting. Do you mean it is used to represent the pound weight
| (what we use "lb" for here, though we're [albeit _very_ gradually!]
| going towards metric), or just to indicate that something _is_ sold by
| weight?

It's the measure. The same as lb. I assumed you
were just being stubborn in not acknowledging that.
Apparently it's not a tradition in the UK.

I (born 1960) have never seen it, though I won't claim it's never used.

| You can go to
| France and complain that it's a crescent roll and not
| the mouth-full-of-pebbles "cwah-sauh" word that they
| use. But it's their country, after all. Better to just
| enjoy your dessert.
|
| I, too, actually prefer to use the English version where I can

I've noticed that with Brits in general. You anglicize.

I meant I use the English _word_, like your crescent rather than
croissant. I'm somewhat unusual in that.


To me, the word "crescent" refers to a shape, and "croissant" refers
to a pastry. I would never use either one of them to refer to the
other.

But speaking of French names for foods, would you say "chicken with
wine" for what I would call "coq au vin"? Would you say "pancake" for
what I would call a "crêpe"? "Chocolate pudding" for "mousse au
chocolat"? "Fat duck liver" for "fois gras"? And so on.

And moving on to another country, "little strings with mariners sauce"
for "spaghetti marinara"? "Pasta with beans" for "pasta e fagioli"?
And so on.

I could add more examples and more countries, but I think I've already
made my point. Many dishes are known by their names in the language of
their country of origin, rather than being translated into English.