what does "S.O.S.", "A.M.", and "P.M.".....stand for?

Question

what does it mean ...seeing it my room all day and in cartoons make me wonder, "what the hell, man!"

Answer 1

S.O.S.-Common belief is that SOS stands for "Save Our Ship" or "Save Our Souls" or "Stop Other Signals" or "Stomp Out Stupidity" or "Sale on Socks." (Not really, I made those last two up.) In fact, SOS in not an acronym and it doesn't represent anything at all.

Samuel Morse devised his telegraph code in 1835, using combinations of dots and dashes that he thought would be easy to memorize. The first distress signal was CQD, the "CQ" for a general notice that a message is coming, and "D" for "danger" or "distress." However, this was cumbersome. In Morse Code, CQD was: -.-. --.- -..

So CQD was dropped.

In 1908, an international committee tried to come up with a distress signal that would be easy to remember during a crisis, and could be transmitted by an amateur with only rudimentary knowledge of Morse Code. They decided a simple combination of threes: three letters, each represented by three marks, since three is a universally favored number. Well, at least in Western cultures.

In Morse Code, the only letters represented by three identical marks are O (three dashes) and S (three dots). The committee toyed with OSO, but dashes are longer electrical signals to transmit than dots. An urgent message needed to be broadcast as quickly as possible and use as little power as possible, and so SOS became international standard.

During WWII, the signal "SSS" was adopted when the source of the emergency was a submarine attack, presumably so that potential rescue ships would know there was an enemy sub in the area.

In 1917, Edwin Cox of San Francisco dipped a small square steel-wool pad into a soap solution, and let it dry, and found this product sold well to housewives. His wife referred to the pads as "S.O.S" for "Save Our Saucepans" believing (incorrectly) that the universal distress signal SOS meant "Save Our Ships." Mr Cox took on S.O.S (with the periods) as the name of his new product. The distress signal SOS has no periods in it, for obvious telegraphic reasons.

A.M./P.M.-“AM” stands for the Latin phrase Ante Meridiem —which means “before noon”—and “PM” stands for Post Meridiem : “after noon.” Although digital clocks routinely label noon “12:00 PM” you should avoid this expression not only because it is incorrect, but because many people will imagine you are talking about midnight instead. The same goes for “12:00 AM.” Just say or write “noon” or “midnight” when you mean those precise times.

Answer 2

SOS is the commonly used description for the International Morse code distress signal (· · · - - - · · · ) (listen). This distress signal was first adopted by the German government in radio regulations effective April 1, 1905, and became the worldwide standard when it was included in the second International Radiotelegraphic Convention, which was signed on November 3, 1906, and became effective on July 1, 1908.

Ante Meridiem, in 12-hour clock notation, Latin for "before noon"
Post meridiem (also written P.M. and pm), Latin for "after noon". This is used to disambiguate hours of the day, in the 12-hour clock system

Answer 3

It is correct that SOS does not literally stand for anything. It was invented as a distress signal for ships in the days of morse code. It was chosen because of its simplicity in code: dot, dot, dot--dash, dash, dash--dot, dot, dot.

As for a.m. and p.m., you have gotten the answer from others. However, you will note that you will see: "ante-meridian, antemeridian, antemeridiem; post-meridian, postmeridian, postmeridiem" all of which are correct depending upon the source. The term is derived originally from the Latin, which is "antemeridiem", with "ante-meridian" being the English version of the same thing. So, technically, antemeridiem and postmeridiem are probably the "most" correct.

Answer 4

None of the answers here are quite right, although some are close. Allow me to set the record straight:

A.M. - ante meridiem
P.M. - post meridiem
SOS - is not actually an acronym and doesn't stand for anything. It's merely a nautical distress signal. Phrases like 'save our ship' or 'souls on ship' are all backcronyms that were created after the signal was invented.

Answer 5

SOS [not an acronym] a common misconception is that SOS means Save Our Ship/Souls (a distress call); the letters don't actually stand for anything

AM Ante meridiem
PM Post meridiem

Answer 6

i know s.o.s stands for save our source. A.M is for the time of the day before 12 noon and P.M stands for after 12 noon

Answer 7

S.O.S. - a simple and easy to remember set of morse code that basically means "Send help" Many people mistakenly believe it stands for "Save Our Ship" It also refers to a chipped beef and white sauce over toast dish called "S*** On a Shingle"

A.M. - ante-meridian (before noon)
P.M. - post meridian (after noon) also Prime Minister.

Answer 8

Save Our Ships

Ante-Meridiem

Post-Meridiem

Answer 9

Save Our Ship
Ante Meridiem-Latin, meaning before noon
Post Meridiem- Latin between noon and midnight

Answer 10

Ante Meridiem (period between midnight and noon) a.m.
Post Meridiem (period from noon to midnight) p.m.
s.o.s. is usually sued as a distress call, like save our ship/souls when they are trapped somewhere