What does SOS mean?

If the intended use of the right of recourse is clear, SOS can nonetheless amaze with the exact meaning of its letters.

Synonymous with severe complications that require assistance without delay, SOS alerts with its reading or audible mention. But where does this term come from, and is it an abbreviation for an expression as we can read here and there? First of all, it is really a distress signal and a request for immediate help.

On 3 November 1906 the SOS signal was formalized by the Berlin Convention. More precisely, “SOS” is the Morse code interpretation of the distress signal. It must be remembered that prior to this official recognition, the wireless telegraph services had their own signal, which did not necessarily help to quickly understand an almost hopeless situation.

“Save our ship”?

As noted The site I’m interested in, there is a hypothesis that wants SOS to be an acronym for “Save Our Ship” or “Sauvez Notre Navire”. The translation is among others that seem, at least in the original version, to fit perfectly in the context of a serious problem encountered at sea, but the explanation behind this “SOS” would be much simpler.

The choice stems from ease of understanding

These letters were finally chosen by a certain coincidence. In Morse code, the S is pronounced by making three dots (short sounds), and the O with three dashes (long sounds). Ease of implementation that would be behind choosing to continue the letters S, O and again S. One could also wonder if it is not possible to use IMI (colon, two dashes, two colon) or even recursive time (one dot, one dash, one dot ). Perhaps because this string of letters forms real words in certain languages, such as “été” in French.