2006-07-08 18:26:52 · 30 answers · asked by Niki 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
SOS actually stands for nothing at all. Some people believe it means "Save our ship", "Save our Souls" or "Survivors on Ship" but these phrases weren't developed until after the SOS distress signal was created. It's a common misconception.
Originally a distress code would look something like this: CQD - CQ noticing people that a message was coming and D for danger. This wasn't an easy message to translate into morse code so it was dropped for SOS because S and O are the simplest letters to translate in morse code.
Hope I was some help :)
2006-07-08 18:31:51 · answer #1 · answered by Peter 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Someone Special
Save Our Ship
2006-07-14 17:49:13 · answer #2 · answered by ♫†☼☼♥Natasha♥☼☼†♫ 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Save Our Ship, Save Our Souls
2006-07-09 12:37:40 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Save Our Souls
2006-07-09 01:31:24 · answer #4 · answered by Anry 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Save Our Souls
Save Our Ship
Save Our Saucepans
You should have asked about "MayDay!"
"May Day" is actually "Mei Dei!", which, in French means, "My God!"
EDIT That guy Peter has it right the three dashes, three dots and three dashes again were really easy to distinguish and were used before the acronym was filled out. That's because of the use of morse code during the war and the advent of the telegraph
2006-07-09 01:30:22 · answer #5 · answered by Shinigami 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's commonly asserted that SOS stands for Save Our Ship. In reality, S and O are the easiest letters to communicate in Morse code (dot dot dot and dash dash dash) So this combination was used as the quickest way to communicate an emergency via telegraph.
2006-07-09 01:32:12 · answer #6 · answered by m137pay 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Save Our Ship
Save Our Souls
I don't think there is a definate definition. SOS was derrived from a very simple pattern of morse code.
3 dots 3 dashes 3 dots.
2006-07-09 01:30:45 · answer #7 · answered by tkquestion 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Save Our Souls
It is a standard maritime distress call. Any persons or ships hearing the SOS are required, by maritime law, to respond.
2006-07-09 01:30:32 · answer #8 · answered by jeffma807 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
jennyb said it Save Our Ship
2006-07-09 01:30:46 · answer #9 · answered by singing_star 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Save-Our-Souls!!! Or, "Save Our Ship" or, "Shi-, on a Shingle" which, is quite a good dish, if you make it right.. I just make it when I'm broke, with biscuits, and ground beef, and my homemade gravy. I use to make it with my room-mate before I had kids. So, I told my kids the story behind it and, they insisted I make it,for them... They love it! And request it every now and then, even though, we dont have to eat it. I make it for them, just because, they, ask me too,,and I love my kids!!"Save-Our-Souls".
2006-07-15 11:35:52 · answer #10 · answered by Hmg♥Brd 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋