How "SOS" Was Created and What Its Mnitials Mean. Why the British Preferred "Mayday" and What it Has to Do With The Month of May

 "SOS" warning sign was introduced at the Berlin International Conference on Wireless Telegraphy on November 3, 1906. It is part of the Morse code, where letters and numbers are denoted by periods and dashes. The SOS code is denoted as "• • • - - - • • •", ie three dots, three dashes and three dots. 

What do the initials "SOS" mean?

The first recorded use of the alarm signal was made on the American steamer "SS Arapahoe", on August 11, 1909, when the engine went off off the coast of North Carolina. All the great shipwrecks of the period, such as the Titanic in 1912 and the British in 1916, eagerly emitted "SOS" before their sinking. 

Influenced by the maritime tragedies, the people gave "meaning and substance" to the danger signal. They thought that the initials SOS meant "Save Our Ship", "Save Our Souls" or "Sink Or Swim". In reality, however, the initials SOS do not have any specific meaning. 

They were used after the creation of the signal for easier memorization of the signal by users. The same sequence of dots and dashes corresponds to the letters VTB, but SOS was considered simpler.

The signal for SOS is the only one that includes 9 elements, while all the others do not exceed 8 elements, just to be more recognizable.

"Mayday" or May Day? 

Apart from "SOS", there is another way for someone to declare that he is in danger. This is the word "Mayday", which has a linguistic origin, in relation to "SOS". "Mayday" is an international radio alarm signal, used mainly in the navy and air force. It is believed to have been first heard in 1923 by Frederick Stanley Mockford, a senior telecommunications officer at London's Croydon Airport. 

Although "Mayday" seems to come from May Day or May Day, in reality it has nothing to do with it. It comes from the French "m'aidez" or "m'aider", which means "come and help me". An article in the British newspaper "Times" explained why the term "Mayday" was eventually preferred to telecommunications by "SOS". 

Quite simply the letter "S" is not auspicious enough and could not be easily distinguished by telephone. Also, Mayday, in order to be considered a danger signal, must be repeated three times, in order to be distinguished from "Mayday".