Quoted:
Quoted: Save Our Ship
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Haha, seriously??
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Sucks Our Sinking
Shower On Sub
Show Off Surfboards
Yeah, thats the way I heard it......Save Our Ship . . . _ _ _ . . .
Hmmm.......I guess my teacher was just making $h!t up
(or these people are)
www.wordorigins.org/wordors.htmS.O.S.
The international Morse code distress signal, S.O.S., is another "word" with a false acronymic origin. S.O.S. does not stand for Save Our Souls, Save Our Ship, Stop Other Signals, Sure Of Sinking, or any other phrase.
S.O.S. was chosen as the universal distress signal by the International Radio Telegraph Convention of July 1908 because this combination of three dots followed by three dashes followed by three dots (...---...), was easy to send and easily recognized, especially since they were usually sent as a nine-character signal, which stood out against the background of three-character Morse Code letters. The letters themselves are meaningless.
The first recorded mention of the false acronymic origin is in reference to the Titanic sinking of 1912, which may account for its wide spread and endurance.
Prior to 1908, the high seas distress signal consisted of the letters C.Q.D., which many took it to mean Come Quickly, Danger. Actually this term is a combination of the letters C & Q, the standard radio hail meaning essentially "calling all stations" or "is anyone out there?" and the nonsense letter D. Some suppose that the D stands for distress, but this is not documented. Use of C.Q.D. continued past 1908, and the Titanic's initial distress calls used this older signal. It was not until that ship was near sinking did the radiomen send out the new signal.