It seems you're correct (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_%28force%29). It's hugely confusing though. Newtons and Kilograms are much clearer, they're unambiguous even without context.
When I was a kid (in Canada) we still did a part of our science/physics education in Imperial units (gravitational FPS), and we used the slug as a mass (inertia) unit, reserving pound for force.
