Most abbreviations seem obvious in their origins. For example “tbsp” for tablespoon and “Tue” for Tuesday are pretty good nods to the original word. But you may have noticed one common abbreviation seems to break this custom. You’ve seen it on scales: you’ve seen it in grocery stores. The problem child abbreviation is, of course, “lb” for pound, and you’ve probably wondered just how the heck that happened. On first glance, “lb” doesn’t make much sense, but the reason is actually kind of clever. The Huffington Post pointed out that “lb” is the abbreviation for the Latin word libra, which is the seventh sign in the zodiac. The word libra referred to the scales or balance in ancient Roman times and was also part of a unit of measurement called “libra pondo,” which, translated means “pound weight.” So “lb” became the shorthand for “a pound of weight.” Although it’s Americans who are most likely…