Ghostwriter wrote: ↑Fri Jul 19, 2024 3:03 am The origin of "Mayday" as i've been told by Youtube today

Turns out in the 1920s an English aviator caught a distress message on his radio, emitted by a French guy on the sea.
It was a message in French, but the Brit recognized "Venez m'aider !" between other words (Come help me !). The French guy got rescued.
In the following years, the aviation world was looking for a code for distress situations, and the Brit proposed to use "Venémédé" which was accepted.
But it was a bit long, so they shortened it to "Médé: -> 'Mayday

I like it.

That would be all my input for this thread, i'm afraid ^^

Freightdog wrote: ↑Fri Jul 19, 2024 8:25 am

Ghostwriter wrote: ↑Fri Jul 19, 2024 3:03 am The origin of "Mayday" as i've been told by Youtube today

Turns out in the 1920s an English aviator caught a distress message on his radio, emitted by a French guy on the sea.
It was a message in French, but the Brit recognized "Venez m'aider !" between other words (Come help me !). The French guy got rescued.
In the following years, the aviation world was looking for a code for distress situations, and the Brit proposed to use "Venémédé" which was accepted.
But it was a bit long, so they shortened it to "Médé: -> 'Mayday

I like it.

That would be all my input for this thread, i'm afraid ^^

Not wanting to completely refute the above as there are numerous variants in circulation, and fact often being lost in time. From my college (Marine electronics & communications engineering) days, a more mundane variation was given in explanation, which aligns with that in Wikipedia.
Over time, with retelling and reporting by some flamboyant writers, and with some romance added, these things become embellished, whereas simplicity and deliberation are often at the root.

The original distress call in early days of wireless was CQD in morse code. —.—. — —.— —..
As time went on, this was replaced by the more distinctive …— — — … SOS. Which then erroneously was attributed to meaning Save Our Souls. But in actual fact is more distinctive, simpler to transmit, and less prone to corruption with poor reception over distance that affects HF radio.
The same rationale was applied as voice communications became the norm. M’aidez becoming MayDay. Repeated three times, it has simplicity and is quite distinctive, quickly.