Why don't you say pounds 6 instead of 6 pounds?

Answer 1

Societies need consistent ways to communicate. This comes, in part, from how we use language in normal settings. From common use, standardized ways develop. Imagine, for example, that you are a new settler in a new country, like America in the 1600s. You have no animals yet, but you have a new infant who needs cow's milk. You might ask a neighbor if you can buy "1 cow" from him. If you said, "cow 1", the neighbor would think you were quite odd and the person may not understand you. So we standardized the way we put numbers alongside words. Here are other examples:

• 3 inch stick
• 6 foot long lumber
• 1 ounce beef jerky
• 5 pounds of beef tenderloin
• ten dollars
• ten pounds
• one ounce (liquid volume)
• one liter
• etc.

Answer 2

It is customary to write the currency symbol before the number but to say it in the reverse order.