Why is "mayday" used as a distress signal? What does "SOS" stand for?

Answer 1

Origin of the word mayday
M'aider is the infinitive form of the reflexive verb "help me" within French syntax; however, it is not used as a stand-alone imperative command in standard French, but it is so used in some French patois. This has led some etymologists to claim that what the convention really meant was an abbreviation of the phrase, "Venez m’aider" ("Come help me"). "M'aidez" (which is not grammatically correct either in standard French) is considered an acceptable alternative. In both cases, however, mayday must be considered as a rather crude English phonetic representation. It should be also noted that while in English the phrase is only used in distress situation, in French it carries no more sense of urgency than its English translation. What French people in distress actually shout is, "À l'aide!" or "Au secours!".



Mayday is an emergency code word used internationally as a distress signal in voice procedure radio communications, derived from the French m'aider. It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency by many groups, such as police forces, pilots, the fire brigade, and transportation organizations. The call is always given three times in a row ("Mayday Mayday Mayday") to prevent mistaking it for some similar-sounding phrase under noisy conditions, and to distinguish an actual mayday call from a message about a mayday call.

Answer 2

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SOS is the commonly used description for the International Morse code distress signal (· · · - - - · · · ). 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. From the beginning, the SOS distress signal has actually consisted of a continuous sequence of three-dots/three-dashes/three-dots, all run together without letter spacing. In International Morse Code, three dots form the letter S, and three dashes make the letter O, so "SOS" became an easy way to remember the correct order of the dots and dashes. In modern terminology, SOS is a "procedural signal" or "prosign", and the formal way to show that there are no internal spaces when it is sent is to write it with a bar above the letters, i.e. SOS. In popular usage, SOS became associated with phrases such as "Save Our Ship," "Save Our Souls," "Survivors On Ship," "Save Our Sailors" "Stop Other Signals" and "Send Out Sailors". However, these phrases were a later development, to help remember, like an acronym.

Answer 3

Origin Of Mayday

Answer 4

"SOS" stands for save our souls. In Morse code, it's a very easy signal to send. It was first used as a distress call, in fact, by the telegrapher on the Titanic. Yes, there was an internationally recognized alpha distress code prior to that, but it was more difficult to use. The SOS code had recently been adopted, and it worked. It's not strictly a maritime code, as it can be signaled by anyone with access to any type of device that can in any way send alternating long and short bursts of light or sound.

I don't know the derivation of the term "Mayday", but I do know that it can't possibly have anything to do with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Someone hasn't read their history, as that attack was December 7, 1941.

Answer 5

SOS does not mean "save our ship" or "save our souls". These supposed meanings were added after the morse signal was chosen. The signal ...---... is clear, distinctive and unambiguous. It could just as easily have been IMI ..--.. but the signal as is was chosen. In fact it isn't even SOS because there are no spaces between the parts of the signal, it is one continuous grouping of dots and dashes which is the international emergency signal.

There is another voice signal to declare difficulties below the level of Mayday and that is Pan Pan Pan.

Answer 6

mayday
"distress call," 1927, from French m'aider, shortening of venez m'aider "come help me!"

SOS
1910, from International Morse code letters, chosen arbitrarily as being easy to transmit and difficult to mistake. Not an acronym for "save our ship" or anything else. Won out over alternate suggestion C.Q.D., which is said to mean "come quickly, distress," or "CQ," general call for alerting other ships that a message follows, and "D" for danger. SOS is the telegraphic distress signal only; the oral equivalent is mayday.

Answer 7

What Does Mayday Mean

Answer 8

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RE:
Why is "mayday" used as a distress signal? What does "SOS" stand for?

Answer 9

Don't know about the "mayday" but "SOS" stands for Save Our Souls.

Answer 10

"Mayday" is a emergency code from the French word "M'aider" which means "Help me". It used by many groups such as polices forces or the fire brigade. They always say "M'aiday" three times to prevent mistaking it from other similar phrases under noisy circumstances. But in French, we say "À l'aide" or "Aidez-moi", it makes more sense. ^^