{"id":1215,"date":"2010-12-27T01:00:14","date_gmt":"2010-12-27T09:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=1215"},"modified":"2015-07-02T01:50:00","modified_gmt":"2015-07-02T08:50:00","slug":"what-the-sos-distress-signal-stands-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2010\/12\/what-the-sos-distress-signal-stands-for\/","title":{"rendered":"What the SOS Distress Signal Stands For"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Today I found out<\/a> what SOS stands for.<\/p>\n

It is commonly held that “SOS” is an acronym for “Save Our Ship” and thus often written “S.O.S.”\u00a0 In truth, SOS is not an acronym for anything, which is why it is incorrect to put full stops between each letter.<\/p>\n

So why was SOS chosen to signify a distress signal?\u00a0 The thought was that SOS- in Morse code signified by three dots, three dashes, then three dots- could not be misinterpreted as being a message for anything else.\u00a0 Further, being sent together as one string (with no stops), it could be sent very quickly and needs very little power to transmit.<\/p>\n

So, despite what you might have read elsewhere, as the 1918 Marconi Yearbook of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony notes, “This signal [SOS] was adopted simply on account of its easy radiation and its unmistakable character.\u00a0 There is no special significance in the letters themselves…”<\/p>\n

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