What is with... Spanish speakers?

Question

I speak Spanish but I never got what was with the second e and u in E.E.U.U. why is it not just E.U. (Estados Unidos) What do the extra e and u stand for. This is probably common knowledge, and I probably sound ignorant for asking, but I really don't know and I've always been curious. Thanks.

Answer 1

No debes sentirte mal por preguntar. Nadie lo sabe todo y la gente a veces no pregunta por vanidad, para que no se den cuenta de su ignorancia. Pero al proceder de esa manera no salen de su ignorancia.
La repetición de las letras representa el plural. EU solamente, sería Estado Unido. Es lo mismo que PP, quiere decir Padres ( se aplica a sacerdotes )

Answer 2

Because EU actually stands for something else, so to distinguish Estados Unidos with whatever EU stands for someone decided to make EEUU stand for Estados Unidos.
I'm not sure what EU stands for though

Answer 3

Athena,

This is done for
Plural abbreviations:
Estados Unidos = EEUU
Estado Unido = EU

Hope this answers your question.
You´ll get the gist of it by reading a
newspaper in Spanish - promise!
Good reading!

Answer 4

I always wondered the same thing..

Estados Estados Unidos Unidos??? Once wasn't enough i guess?

LOL Honestly, no se... cuando sepas me dejas saber...;)

Answer 5

Plural abbreviations in Spanish usually work like this:

JJ.OO. = Juegos Olímpicos = Olimpic Games

FF.AA. = Fuerzas Armadas = Armed Forces

FF.CC. = Ferrocarriles = Railways

SS.MM. = Sus Majestades = Your/Their Majesties.

Answer 6

The extra letters don't stand for anything, they just double abbreviate things that way sometimes. I don't know why.

Answer 7

"United States" is plural, thus the double 'E' and Double 'U.'

"United State," singular would be 'E.U.' one United State.

H