Probably a dumb question, but what does this mean?

Question

S.O.S
On Lost & survivor they use it for planes to see, by making them letter huge on the beach. I know its a signal they need to be rescued, but what does it stand for?

Answer 1

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, most likely used to help remember the correct letters—something known as a backronym

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

Save Our Ship and other thoughts have been presented but the truth is it is an exceedingly easy set of letters to dash out in Morse code (which was all most ships had into the 1950's) and yet still be certainly a message rather than random noise on the Coast Guard's receiving sets: dot-dot-dot dash-dash-dash dot-dot-dot. Quick and easy to recognize, easy for even an injured operator to send repeatedly.

All the things it supposedly stands for were imagined for it over the years.

Answer 4

Save Our Souls

Answer 5

Yep, Save Our Souls

Answer 6

Save Our Souls.

Answer 7

Save Our Skins.

Answer 8

shiite on a shingle it is milk gravy with hamburger on toast

Answer 9

Save our ship

(At least i think it means that)

Answer 10

save our ship