# Meaning of S.O.S. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2000, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-s-o-s/43963 "2000-12-04T17:04:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BIGidea26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@BIGidea26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BIGidea26)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2000, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-s-o-s/43963/1 "2000-12-04T17:04:45Z")
Does anyone out there know the background history and meaning of the 3 letter acronym SOS, as it relates to a call for help and/or distress signal? ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2000, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-s-o-s/43963/2 "2000-12-04T17:08:00Z")
It’s just an easily recognizable pattern in Morse Code: dot-dot-dot dash-dash-dash dot-dot-dot Unmistakable if the signal is weak or broken. ---
**Author:** ![Damhna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Damhna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damhna)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2000, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-s-o-s/43963/3 "2000-12-04T17:10:52Z")
I understood it was choosen to represent either “Save Our Souls” or “Save our Ship”. Cant remeber where I got that so im open to correction. I remeber that there were also a number of alternatives in use but that in the interest of unity SOS was chosen as universal ---
**Author:** ![Estragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Estragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estragon)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2000, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-s-o-s/43963/4 "2000-12-04T17:18:17Z")
After 100 years of signalling distress at sea, the Morse code warning SOS is being replaced by a satellite system. The Global Maritime Distress and Safety System can pinpoint the location of any vessel on the high seas within 200 yards. Dots and dashes were first used for a marine rescue off Dover, England. But it was the Titanic disaster of 1912 that prompted the adoption of SOS – three dots, followed by three dashes and three more dots – as an international distress signal. S.O.S actually doesnt stand for anything…as was previoulsy mentioned, it was just an easily recognized pattern. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2000, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-s-o-s/43963/5 "2000-12-04T17:20:15Z")
SOS doesn’t have any meaning. “Save Our Souls,” “Save Our Ship,” etc are folk etymologies, just like how people say that “fuck” means “Fornication Under Consent of King” or “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.” SOS was chosen because it’s simple and easy to remember. ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2000, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-s-o-s/43963/6 "2000-12-04T20:07:10Z")
You’ve been lied to, **Damhna**. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just more recognizeable that “CQ”. BTW, does CQ stand for anything? I’ve got it set as the ringing noise on my cellphone. Who woulda thunk Nokia could come up with something like that? 😃 (“that” being using an international “talk to me” as a phone ringer) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2000, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-s-o-s/43963/7 "2000-12-04T20:08:44Z")
The first suggestion for a distress signal was SSSDDD, but it was never accepted. The DDD part meant “cease radio traffic and listen.” The first distress call was suggested by Marconi in 1904. It was “CQD”. The CQ just meant a general call, and the D indicates distress (I’m not sure if it actually _stands for_ the word “distress”. Folk etymology made this stand for “Come quick, danger,” or such such hogwash. SOS was adopted a few years later, and the two signals were used more or less interchangably for several years. The Titanic in 1912 sent both signals, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2000, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-s-o-s/43963/8 "2000-12-04T20:12:04Z")
I forgot to include the link. See [“‘SOS,’ ‘CQD’ and the History of Maritime Distress Calls”](http://fohnix.metronet.com/~nmcewen/arc_current.html) ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2000, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-s-o-s/43963/9 "2000-12-04T21:01:46Z")
To add a couple more links, a report on the April 1, 1905 adoption of radio regulations in Germany, including “SOS” as a distress signal, appeared in the May 5, 1905 issue of _The Electrician_: [German Regulations for the Control of Spark Telegraphy](http://www.ipass.net/~whitetho/1905germ.htm). In 1906, “SOS” was adopted as international standard at the [Berlin Radiotelegraphic Conference](http://www.ipass.net/~whitetho/1906conv.htm#RegXVI). (The fact that as late as 1912 the _Titanic_ sent out CQD in adddition to SOS in part reflected a resistance by the Marconi company to giving up “its” CQD in order to adopt “the German” SOS)