Why does sos mean

When were they used? The Morse Code is a line of three dots, three dashes, and three more dots. Or is it? How about that? The practical use of wireless telegraphy was made possible by Guglielmo Marconi in the closing years of the 19th century.

Until then, ships at sea out of visual range were very much isolated from shore and other ships. The wireless telegraphers used Morse Code to send messages. By there were many trans-Atlantic British ships equipped with wireless communications.

The wireless operators came from the ranks of railroad and postal telegraphers. At the second Berlin Radiotelegraphic Conference , the subject of a danger signal was again addressed. Considerable discussion ensued and finally SOS was adopted. The thinking was that three dots, three dashes and three dots could not be misinterpreted. It was to be sent together as one string. Save This Word! We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.

Origin of SOS —10, from the Morse code alphabet, in which three dots or short clicks represents the letter S and three dashes or long clicks represents the letter O. Origin of s. What does SOS mean? Where does SOS come from? Did you know How is SOS used in real life? Try using SOS! Memoirs of Mr. Charles J. Yellowplush William Makepeace Thackeray. See comments. Different people have different ways of saying things — their own special expressions.

Each week we tell about some popular American expressions. What you are listening to is a call for help. It is the Morse code distress signal S. For years, telegraph operators used Morse code to communicate across the country and around the world. A skilled operator could send and receive 30 or 40 words a minute.

Put them together and you have S. These sounds represent the international call for help because they are easy to recognize. Now, it is simply known as S.

The short video above was cut from an official United States Army instructional video. But many people think that S. We call it a backronym. A backronym is a combination of two words: backward and acronym.