2007-04-20 07:02:17 · 53 answers · asked by ηєvєrmorє 6 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Polls & Surveys
the letters represented by the radio telegraphic signal (··· – – – ···) used, esp. by ships in distress, as an internationally recognized call for help.
2007-04-20 07:05:21 · answer #1 · answered by Juleette 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
SOS/SSS -- "Many people believe SOS stands for 'Save Our Ship,' 'Save Our Souls,' 'Stop Other Signals.' Actually, the letters have no significance whatever. The first distress call used by the early Marconi Company was CQD -- CQ being the general call to alert other ships that a message is coming and D standing for 'danger' or 'distress.' 'For various technical reasons this proved unsatisfactory and in 1908, by international agreement, a signal made up of three dits, three dahs and three dits was adopted as the one most easily transmitted and understood. By coincidence, this signal is translatable as SOS. During World War II a new distress signal, SSS, was devised for use only when the cause of the distress was a submarine torpedoing." From the "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins Publishers, New York, N.Y., 1977, 1988)
2007-04-20 07:08:23 · answer #2 · answered by Crash 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
From the beginning, the SOS distress signal has actually consisted of a continuous sequence of three-dits/three-dahs/three-dits, all run together without letter spacing. In International Morse Code, three dits form the letter S, and three dahs make the letter O, so "SOS" became an easy way to remember the correct order of the dits and dahs. In modern terminology, SOS is a "procedural signal" or "prosign", and the formal way 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" "Sink Or Swim", "Send Out Sailors", "Save Our Skins", and "Send Out Someone" . However, these phrases were a later development, most likely used to help remember the correct letters—something known as a backronym.
2007-04-20 07:06:44 · answer #3 · answered by Cora 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Thank you muffinman, for being so informative.
Like all the answers here, SOS can mean: Save Our Souls, Save Our Ship. But here are some little known codes:
SMB: Send More Beer
SUP: Send Us Prostitutes
SUC: Send Us Comdoms
SOP: Send Out Pizza
Gillagan would have used SOS this way:
"Skipper, Oh Skipperrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"
2007-04-20 07:22:57 · answer #4 · answered by Lorenzo A 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Save Our Souls
2007-04-20 07:08:01 · answer #5 · answered by SPORTS GUY 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Save Our Ship
2007-04-20 07:05:39 · answer #6 · answered by Mikee 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Save Our Souls
2007-04-20 07:05:44 · answer #7 · answered by Monet 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Save Our Ship.
2007-04-20 07:24:22 · answer #8 · answered by mikey 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Many people mistakenly think SOS stands for Save Our Ship. Actually, the Letters do not stand for any words at all. It is the translation of the Morse code distress signal. SOS was chosen as the international distress signal because three dots, three dashes and three dots (code for SOS) could not be misinterpreted.
2007-04-20 07:11:10 · answer #9 · answered by b 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
S.O.S can be read upside down.
"Save Our Ship," "Save Our Souls," "Survivors On Ship," "Save Our Sailors" "Stop Other Signals" "Sink Or Swim", "Send Out Sailors", "Save Our Skins", and "Send Out Someone"
2007-04-20 07:06:31 · answer #10 · answered by bobbino11 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Save Our Ship.
2007-04-20 07:05:02 · answer #11 · answered by tamara_cyan 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋