People shocked to find out what SOS actually means
The true meaning of SOS.
Featured Image Credit: Michel Porro / Contributor / Getty
There are plenty of phrases we understand their general meaning without fully knowing their specifics or origins, and SOS is one of the biggest examples among them all.
Well-known throughout the world as the universal call for help, the exact meaning of the letters behind SOS can have different meanings depending on who you ask.
The biggest interpretations have been those like “Save Our Ship” or “Save Our Souls”.
In reality, however, the meaning is not what you'd expect.
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In fact - the letters S.O.S don’t really mean anything — at least in the usual sense of communication.
That’s because when the SOS distress call was originally established in 1908, it was as Morse code for maritime use. As the years have flown by, the reveal of its true origins has gone on to surprise people all over.
Using “...” twice for “S”, “– - – ” for the letter “O” and the same three dots for a second “S”, it was agreed on an international level that this was the call for help to be used for ships in distress.
There were other messages that navies used in Morse code at the time, but none were as easy to understand.
For example, CQD, which used staggered variations of single lines and dots, was deemed too complex. With time, all maritime operations adopting SOS were deemed as the way forward.
Soon after, SOS was adopted across the early 20th century as the efficient way to quickly convey the need for rescue through written or verbal communication to hopeful saviors.
Those aforementioned well-known phrases like “Save Our Souls” and “Save Our Ship” arrived further down the line to give SOS meaning as an acronym, but the specific reason as to why those three letters in Morse code are used is much simpler than one might think.
When communicating Morse code, conveying the letters S.O.S was merely the easiest to transmit due to their simplicity. With it, ships could continuously transmit the message at regular intervals to continuously communicate the need for rescue without confusion.
Social media users all over have interacted with platforms, like on the above Sub-Reddit, have gone on to share their surprise with others.
One such user, Cristian-28400, said: “All of us who said "Save Our Souls" or "Save our Ship" were wrong. SOS was created before we give it a meaning.”
Another Redditer, LittleLordFontalot, pointed out the added benefit of SOS’ ease in Morse code in an easily forgotten communication method as well — light. They said: The sound of the pips is easy to remember, transmit, and understand. The same goes for the code used with a flashlight.”
A third Redditer humorously even believed SOS stood for a third alternative phrase. They said: "My brother told me it was Save Our Sausages, and I believed him for years."