10 October 2025

Off to explore a few more places

Probably our last international trip of the year together, before the Family Season commences in November and December. This year, we are expecting three dogs and four young adults to join us at home! But first, there are a few European cities to explore for these two old adults…

Category: Vacations | LEAVE A COMMENT
6 October 2025

What does “SOS” stand for?

Here is one of the interesting things I learned while picking up Morse code. I can’t believe I have lived all my life without realizing this.

What does the term “SOS” stand for? Growing up, I always thought that it stood for “Save Our Souls”. I believe I first heard this while reading about the story of the Titanic. Some think of it as “Save Our Ship”.

It turns out that “SOS” is not an abbreviation at all. About 75 years after Morse code was created, around the start of the 1900s, the Germans helped set a universal distress code: SOS. They chose it because its Morse pattern [… — …] was easy to recognize. Before SOS, other distress signals were used, with “CQD” being the most common.

So, SOS does not stand for any English phrase. And even if it did stand for something, it would have been very likely a German phrase!

Did you know that?

Category: Puzzles | LEAVE A COMMENT