TRIVIAL PURSUITS: What does ‘SOS’ stand for when referring to the distress signal?

The Morse code ‘SOS’ distress signal was first adopted by the German government in the early 1900s. It consists of three dots, three dashes and three dots.

‘SOS’ stands for nothing. Some sources say that in International Morse Code, three dots form the letter ‘S’ and three dashes make the letter ‘O’, so ‘SOS’ became an easy way to remember the order of the dots and dashes.