SOS 的词源

国际无线电电话求救信号，1923年初在“欧洲主要航空制造国代表在伦敦举行会议时”达成协议选择的（新闻通讯社报道）。它被选为一个英语词，发音与法语m'aidez“救助我！”非常相似。

最初的关注点是从伦敦到巴黎跨越海峡的客运航班数量不断增加。S.O.S.，电报求救代码，在早期无线电中，S的声音在最佳条件下也很难听清，因此不够合适。

"May Day" Is Airplane SOS

ENGLISH aviators who use radio telephone transmitting sets on their planes, instead of telegraph sets, have been puzzling over the problem of choosing a distress call for transmission by voice. The letters SOS wouldn't do, and just plain "help!" was not liked, and so "May Day" was chosen. This was thought particularly fitting since it sounds very much like the French m'aidez, which means "help me." ["The Wireless Age," June 1923]

“May Day”是飞机的SOS

使用无线电电话发射装置的英国飞行员们，一直在为选择一个可通过声音传输的求救信号而苦恼。字母SOS不合适，简单的“救命！”也不受欢迎，于是选择了“May Day”。这被认为特别合适，因为它听起来非常像法语的m'aidez，意为“救助我”。[《无线电时代》，1923年6月]