The Brief: "Spain Without The S" is a meme referring to "pain." It is meant to be funny.

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“Spain Without The S” is a saying and meme. It is typically used online to refer to pain and make light of hurtful or disappointing moments or exchanges online. It is intended to be funny.

According to Know Your Meme, “Spain Without The S” is part of “silent letter” jokes across social media platforms.

The “Spain Without The S” meme seems to have first gone viral on Twitter in July 2019 after user @Aamirah_salie wrote”Guys I’m in Spain. The s is silent.”

i'm in spain s is silent
Twitter/@Aamirah_salie via Know Your Meme

The tweet amassed over 124,700 retweets and 356,100 likes in one year. The screenshot was reportedly circulated online for months. This format began to grow in popularity in August 2020, with separate viral posts appearing on Twitter and Reddit during that time.

It inspired other “silent letter” tweets and jokes on the internet, like Twitter user @Koordell post about “Champagne” with out the “cham.”

im in champagne, cham is silent
Twitter/@Koordell via Know Your Meme

Soon other versions of “silent” letter memes appeared online.

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