The origins of lambaste are somewhat uncertain, but the word was most likely formed by combining the verbs lam and baste, both of which mean to beat severely. (Incidentally, lambaste can also be spelled lambast, despite the modern spelling of the verb baste.) Some other synonyms of lambaste include pummel, thrash, and pound.
According to the Wikipedia article on Fahrenheit: Fahrenheit remains the official scale for the following countries: the Bahamas, Belize, the Cayman Islands, Palau and the United States and associated territories (Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands). Canada retains it as a supplementary scale that can be used alongside Celsius.
Pound sign is also a term sometimes used for the number sign, #, in the United States, and sometimes in Canada; (in Canada however, the symbol is generally only used for number, and its being referred to as pound is a much more recent borrowing from the American telephone system and limited to telephone use alone.