Here are a few facts to sort a few things out:
Thanksgiving is called Harvest Festival in Britain and is celebrated on the Sunday closest to the full (harvest) moon of the Autumn (Fall) Equinox, 22 September - it originates as a pagan festival.
The # has come into being to represent - number - as in #3 meaning number 3, but it is much more common in Britain that this would be written as No. 3. Obviously as an abbreviation of the word - number - this is odd, but traces it origins back to the original French - nombre - meaning number, and hence No. as an abbreviation.
80% of English originates from French, but in Britain, unlike in America, when the pronunciation changed the spelling did not follow, hence in Britain and America we say - center, but in British English it is still spelt as in French - centre.
Pounds - interesting: the £ symbol everyone knows means pounds sterling, like the $ and the €. When it comes to weight, then one pound is 1lb, but don't tell a British person you weigh 140 lbs, because they will look at you with a blank expression and understand nothing. In Britain 14lbs equal 1 stone, so you weigh 10 stones. For the rest of Europe you will need to convert that to kilos!