SOS is the international Morse code distress signal (three dots, three dashes, and three dots, all run together without letter spacing).
The SOS distress signal was first adopted by the German government radio regulations effective April 1, 1905. It became the worldwide standard under the second International Radiotelegraphic Convention, which became effective on July 1, 1908.
The SOS distress signal was used for first time on June 10, 1909, when the Cunard liner SS Slavonia was wrecked off the Azores.
The SOS letters are simply a convenient and distinctive combination and are not an acronym, although they have been popularly held to stand for such phrases as "Save Our Ship," "Save Our Souls" or "Send Out Succour".
So why was SOS chosen to signify a distress signal? This was explained in the 1918 Marconi Yearbook of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony: “This signal [SOS] was adopted simply on account of its easy radiation and its unmistakable character. There is no special significance in the letters themselves…”
SOS is often written inaccurately as “S.O.S.” As“SOS” isn’t an acronym for anything, it is incorrect to put full stops between each letter.
In 1917 San Francisco aluminium pot salesman Ed Cox, invented a pre-soaped pad with which to clean pots. As a way of introducing himself to potential new customers, Cox made the soap incrusted steel-wool pads as a calling card. These pads quickly became more popular than his pots and pans, so he gave up selling pots and concentrated on manufacturing the cleaning product. They still did not have a name until his wife came up with a solution. She had called them S.O.S pads in her kitchen, meaning "Save Our Saucepans."
SOS messages have been found stitched in Primark clothing, allegedly from employees complaining of "sweatshop conditions" and being "worked like oxen" over 15 hour shifts.
S.O.S. by ABBA is the only Top 20 hit in history in which the title of the song and the name of the artist are both palindromes - they spell the same thing forward and backward.
The SOS distress signal was first adopted by the German government radio regulations effective April 1, 1905. It became the worldwide standard under the second International Radiotelegraphic Convention, which became effective on July 1, 1908.
The SOS distress signal was used for first time on June 10, 1909, when the Cunard liner SS Slavonia was wrecked off the Azores.
The SOS letters are simply a convenient and distinctive combination and are not an acronym, although they have been popularly held to stand for such phrases as "Save Our Ship," "Save Our Souls" or "Send Out Succour".
So why was SOS chosen to signify a distress signal? This was explained in the 1918 Marconi Yearbook of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony: “This signal [SOS] was adopted simply on account of its easy radiation and its unmistakable character. There is no special significance in the letters themselves…”
SOS is often written inaccurately as “S.O.S.” As“SOS” isn’t an acronym for anything, it is incorrect to put full stops between each letter.
In 1917 San Francisco aluminium pot salesman Ed Cox, invented a pre-soaped pad with which to clean pots. As a way of introducing himself to potential new customers, Cox made the soap incrusted steel-wool pads as a calling card. These pads quickly became more popular than his pots and pans, so he gave up selling pots and concentrated on manufacturing the cleaning product. They still did not have a name until his wife came up with a solution. She had called them S.O.S pads in her kitchen, meaning "Save Our Saucepans."
SOS messages have been found stitched in Primark clothing, allegedly from employees complaining of "sweatshop conditions" and being "worked like oxen" over 15 hour shifts.
S.O.S. by ABBA is the only Top 20 hit in history in which the title of the song and the name of the artist are both palindromes - they spell the same thing forward and backward.
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