Is Save Our Souls or Save Our Ship correct for SOS?

daBomb619

Neither. SOS doesn't stand for anything; it was invented as a distress signal because it was easy for dispatchers to remember. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOS *in Morse Code, that is Dec 10 12, 2:34 AM

rossian

This is a good explanation of a 'backronym' where words are attached to the letters to create a meaning: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100806085734AAwABoZ It also adds another option - 'sink or swim' Dec 10 12, 3:49 AM

Pennstatersdad

n popular usage, SOS became associated with such phrases as "save our ship", "save our souls" and "send out succour". These may be regarded as mnemonics, but SOS does not stand for anything and is not an abbreviation, acronym or initialism. In fact SOS is only one of several ways that the combination could have been written, VTB, for example, would produce exactly the same sound, but SOS was chosen to describe this combination. SOS is the only 9-element signal in Morse code, making it more easily recognisable, as no other symbol uses more than 8 elements. Dec 10 12, 7:44 AM