EU

Today I was waiting in line to check out at the grocery store when I spied one of those "made in" statements on a package in the cart ahead of me. This one declared that the product (I didn't notice what it was) was made in the E.U. My first thought was that I was amazed that the European Union was no longer specifying country of manufacture, but was instead just referring to the Union. That was much sooner than expected, I thought. So, Europe was already jelling (sp?) into a single economic entity, I mused.

Then my eyes drifted a line lower on the package. That line stated that the product was made in the E.E. U.U. Now I was confused. Wasn't that the Mexican abbreviation for los Estados Unidos, my beloved homeland? Yes. Yes it was. And the line below clarified by stating that the product was "Made in the United States". EU was not the European Union at all, then. Rather, just the 'Etats Unis'. Another must include french because Canada is being bullied by the quebecois situation. Still, it's weird, the US and Europe having the same abbreviation. I wonder if they did it on purpose? And I guess that will make things easier in the long run. Like when Europe and The US (and Canada and Mexico and...) have to join forces to compete against the up and coming economic juggernauts - India and China. Fun times ahead.