(~1 minutes to read)
I was re-reading my article about the 2015 Word of the Year recently, and came to the section about Morse code.
As that article states, the international prosign for a distress call is • • • – – – • • •. Without gaps between letters, this sequence of dots and dashes can mean “SOS”, “VTB”, “IJS”, “VGI” and “SMB”.
“SOS” was the interpretation that was adopted, and the meanings attributed to the letters are actually backronyms (Backronyms are explained about half way down the article at this link). “Save our Souls” is the most popular one, although “Save our Ship” and “Stop Other Signals” are not unknown.
This got me thinking about backronyms for the other interpretations of • • • – – – • • •.
With the caveat that I’m in no way belittling the plight of people in distress, or disrespecting the memory of those who have perished, here are some possible backronyms for those other interpretations.
VTB
- Very Troubled Boat
- Vital Transportation Broken
- Viscerally Torn Boat
IJS
- I Just Sank
- Idiots Junked Ship
- In Jaws of Sea
VGI
- Very Grave Incident
- Vicious Gigantic Iceberg
- Violent Gyration Imminent
SMB
- Somebody Mayday Blublublublublub…
- Ship Mangled Bottom
Perhaps these alternatives explain why “Save Our Souls” was adopted!
Your Turn
Do you have any suggestions for the possible meanings of • • • – – – • • • in its various letters?
Irreverent is okay; offensive is not.
Let me know by leaving a comment.