What is the meaning of SOS?

Are you somehow familiar with Morse codes? Let’s have a background check first. Way back in the year 1835, Samuel Morse developed a code using dots and dashes, with the use of sending electric pulses. These codes signify letters of the alphabet and are used to communicate messages, such as a call for distress. One of the first used distress calls are: NC for Italy which means “Mayday” or “Help Me” in French, an International radio emergency called “SSSDD” in Italy, and England adopting the CQD which means General Notice for Distress.

But, did you know that having multiple distress signals for communication, is potentially dangerous? Like a ship in foreign waters, for example, how will they be able to ask for help when they’re in distress, if there is a possible language barrier between them and their rescuers? The rescue operation will be much difficult. And so, they needed a universal distress code and a mode of communication that is fit for long-distance communication instead of being merely limited to those within the range of sight. This came up to the usage of SOS.

You may now think that the word “SOS” is an abbreviation for “Save our Ship”, or “Save our souls”. It is not. In fact, it is a continuous Morse code composed of a string of three dots, three dashes, and another three dots all run together with no spaces in between. Written as (…---…). According to the International Morse Code, the three dots form a letter “S”, while the three dashes form a letter “O”, hence the implementation of the word “SOS” for the sake of convenience. The utilization of SOS as a universal call of distress was ratified at the 1906 Radiotelegraph Conference, and was then put into use in the year 1908. Its first usage was documented in the US when the SS Arapahoe lost power in the Graveyard of the Atlantic near Diamond Shoals, in August of 1909. Luckily, the ship and crew were successfully rescued.

Enjoy this video about the meaning behind S.O.S.




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