Displaying currency symbols with select(), is it possible?

Rails
1

I posted this a while ago and now I have a more simple example. The
following snippet produces a pull-down menu but the &pound is not
converted into the pound symbol in the option text.

For example:

<%= select("customer", "def_cur", [['$ - USD", "$'], ['&pound; -

GBP’, ‘£’]]) %>

How are producing select menus with special characters in them these
days?

I’m having this problem with rails 1.6 and 1.2.1. I’d really like to
present the user with the list currencies along with their symbols
&pound, &euro, &yen, etc… in the form.

Thanks,