What Does SOS Stand For?

Do you think that SOS, the distress signal used on ships all over the world, stands for “Save Our Ship”?

Actually, it doesn’t stand for anything. In the kind of telegraph code used to transmit messages to and from ships, the letter S is three dots, and the letter 0 is three dashes. So in 1908, SOS was chosen as the distress signal because it is easy to send and recognize.

The distress signal for ship radios is “Mayday.” This word probably came from a French phrase, m’aidez, which is pronounced something like mayday and means “help me.”

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4 Comments

  1. Anonymous
    Posted 2008/09/24 at 8:21 am | Permalink

    it stands for save our souls

    Reply
  2. Anonymous
    Posted 2008/10/28 at 10:29 am | Permalink

    that’s right, it stands for save our souls!!

    Reply
  3. Anonymous
    Posted 2008/11/08 at 6:21 pm | Permalink

    Save our souls

    Reply
  4. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/09/23 at 6:58 pm | Permalink

    save oure soles yep thats right i cant spell.

    Reply

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