Abbreviation of EU and associated punctuation

Question

Why doesn't the abbreviation of European Union (EU) carry periods with it as the abbreviation of United States (U.S.) does, for example?

A brief online search turned up little on the punctuation of EU.

If you have a link to a site with a decent explanation, I'd really appreciate that!

Wasn't there a similar question to this one? looky looky – Alenanno Jul 07 '11 at 19:35 — Alenanno, Jul 07 '11 at 19:35
US does not always have periods, either. – Daniel Jul 07 '11 at 19:37 — Daniel, Jul 07 '11 at 19:37
Also, those are not abbreviations but acronysms – rds Apr 25 '12 at 11:35 — rds, Apr 25 '12 at 11:35

Thursagen · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-07T19:36:52.980

The same reason why USA doesn't have any periods or punctuation.

Although it is grammatically correct to have these periods, it is just not popular usage. For example, MA instead of Massachusetts

The Chicago Journal of International Law Style Sheet states:

1) When using acronyms for country names, omit periods between letters.

From Wikipedia's Manual of Style:

e Chicago Manual of Style now deprecates the use of the periods (16th ed.); US (without periods) is generally accepted in most other national forms of English. In longer abbreviations incorporating the country's initials (USN, USAF), periods are not used.

In short, I think it is disputed whether or not to have periods when abbreviating country names. I feel that its unnecessary though, because people know it is an abbreviation, and not two words Capitalised, so its fine without periods.

A minor quibble: "MA" is a Postal Code for Massachusetts, not an abbreviation. It would never be correct to write "M.A." instead of "MA" when referring to that state. If it were an abbreviation, it might stand for Massachusetts, Maryland, or Maine. (The standard abbreviation for Massachusetts is "Mass.", I believe.) — Hellion, Jul 07 '11 at 20:45

Abbreviation of EU and associated punctuation

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