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    What does S.O.S. stand for?

    Question #48021. Asked by TheAlphaWolf. (Jun 01 04 12:46 PM)


    pbombard

    		It actually doesn't stand for anything. The letters were chosen because they were easy to telegraph. After they came into wide use people began assigning them meanings like "save our ship" but these are not correct.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOS

    [Added reference link - McG]

    Jun 01 04, 12:58 PM
    Senior Moments

    		Save Our Souls

    Pbombard is correct about it not actually standing for anything but just as a bit more info, CQD was the original standard international Morse code distress signal.
    It was originally proposed and adopted by Marconi on January 7, 1904. It was officially superseded with the code SOS in 1908 which was considered more distinctive and easier to use.

    CQD stood for "Come Quick, Danger".

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CQD

    [Added reference link - McG]

    Jun 01 04, 2:44 PM
    Rostov

    		Another bit of trivia: SOS is the standard international Morse code distress signal for ships at sea. The official land distress signal is QRRR.

    http://home.zcu.cz/~tomes/qcodes.htm

    [Added reference link - McG]

    Apr 22 07, 6:59 AM

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