Subject: [Sipping] Comment on draft-schulzrinne-sipping-sos-01.txt

From: "Christian Huitema" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 09:04:52 -0800

The draft proposes the definition of a generic "distress signal" address in
SIP domains. While this is a good idea, I believe the specific choice of the
word "sos" is poor. This word comes from a religious tradition (save our
souls) that is specific to some cultures. Choosing "mayday" would be more in
accordance with international practice.

-- Christian Huitema

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---

From: Tony Hansen <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 14:44:28 -0500

Wrong. The best explanation comes from www.wordorigins.org:

	"S.O.S.

	"The international morse code distress signal, S.O.S., is another
"word" with a false acronymic origin. S.O.S. does not stand for Save Our
Souls, Save Our Ship, Stop Other Signals, Sure Of Sinking , or any other
phrase. 

	"S.O.S. was chosen as the universal distress signal by the
International Radio Telegraph Convention of July 1908 because this
combination of letters, three dots followed by three dashes followed by
three dots (...---...), was easy to send and easily recognized. The
letters themselves are meaningless. 

	"The first recorded mention of the false acronymic origin is in
reference to the Titanic sinking of 1912, which may account for its wide
spread and endurance. 

	"Prior to 1908, the high seas distress signal consisted of the letters
C.Q.D., which many took it to mean Come Quickly, Danger . Actually this
term is a combination of the letters C & Q, the standard radio hail
meaning essentially "calling all stations" or "is anyone out there?" and
the nonsense letter D. Some suppose that the D stands for distress, but
this is not documented. Use of C.Q.D. continued past 1908, and the
Titanic's initial distress calls used this older signal. It was not
until that ship was near sinking did the radiomen send out the new
signal."

	Tony Hansen
	[email-masked]

---

From: Henning Schulzrinne <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 14:00:45 -0600

Christian:

I believe that is a common, but incorrect, perception. Merriam-Webster
defines SOS as:

--- begin quote ---
Pronunciation: "es-(")O-'es
Function: noun
Date: 1910
1 : an internationally recognized signal of distress in radio code · · ·
- - - · · · used especially by ships calling for help
2 : a call or request for help or rescue 
--- end quote ---

Indeed, http://www.uselessknowledge.com/word/sos.shtml addresses your
concern head-on. If you disagree, please provide a credible primary
source that refutes the article. The article says:

"The international morse code distress signal, S.O.S., is another "word"
with a false acronymic origin. S.O.S. does not stand for Save Our Souls,
Save Our Ship, Stop Other Signals, Sure Of Sinking, or any other phrase.

S.O.S. was chosen as the universal distress signal by the International
Radio Telegraph Convention of July 1908 because this combination of
letters, three dots followed by three dashes followed by three dots
(...---...), was easy to send and easily recognized. The letters
themselves are meaningless.

The first recorded mention of the false acronymic origin is in reference
to the Titanic sinking of 1912, which may account for its wide spread
and endurance."

---

From: "James M. Polk" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 20:43:07 -0600

sos      is the way to go.

>> accordance with international practice.

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