mayday

== Translingual == === Etymology === Borrowed from French m'aider, short for Venez m'aider! (“Come to help me!”). The term was conceived in the early 1920s by Frederick Stanley Mockford, officer-in-charge of radio at Croydon Airport in England. He had been asked to think of a word that would indicate distress and would easily be understood by all pilots and ground staff in an emergency. Since much of the air traffic at the time was between Croydon and Le Bourget Airport in Paris, he proposed the term "mayday," the phonetic equivalent of the French m'aider. === Pronunciation === English: IPA(key): /ˈmeɪ.deɪ/ Hyphenation: may‧day === Interjection === mayday (radio) emergency, need assistance ==== Usage notes ==== When making a distress call, mayday is said three times in succession (mayday, mayday, mayday) to signal that the message is an actual distress signal, as opposed to a message about a mayday signal. "Mayday" is deemed to include "All stations", so no called station is mentioned -- on a voice-only radio, a marine mayday call starts "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday; this is [boat name], this is [boat name], this is [boat name]; [call sign and Maritime Mobile Service Identity]; Mayday, [boat name, call sign and MMSI]; [location]; [nature of distress]; [assistance required]; [number of people on board]; [other useful info]". Although notionally sent to "all stations", it is expected that the coastguard will answer. If they do not answer within 30 seconds, then there are procedures for response by other ships who hear the call. Aircraft mayday signals differ in details, including reduced identification requirements, because in nearly every case Air Traffic Control already have information about the type of aircraft the call sign belongs to, and its location. An aircraft may need to be handed off from one controller to another, and it is recommended that they sign in to each new ATC as "Mayday [call sign]" to ensure the new controller recognises that they are the emergency aircraft. ==== Synonyms ==== SOS ==== Translations ==== The call mayday is the international standard emergency call. However, many local variations also exist. ==== See also ==== pan-pan == English == === Alternative forms === Mayday === Etymology === From the distress signal mayday, from French m'aider, short for Venez m'aider! (“Come to help me!”). The term was conceived in the early 1920s by Frederick Stanley Mockford, officer-in-charge of radio at Croydon Airport in England. He had been asked to think of a word that would indicate distress and would easily be understood by all pilots and ground staff in an emergency. Since much of the air traffic at the time was between Croydon and Le Bourget Airport in Paris, he proposed the term "mayday," the phonetic equivalent of the French m'aider. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈmeɪ̯deɪ̯/, [ˈmeɪ̯deɪ̯] (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈmæɪ̯deɪ̯/, [ˈmæ̝ɪ̯dæ̝ɪ̯] Rhymes: -eɪdeɪ Hyphenation: may‧day === Noun === mayday (plural maydays) An international distress signal used by shipping and aircraft. ==== Related terms ==== distress signal ==== Descendants ==== → French: mayday → Japanese: メーデー (mēdē) → Malay: mayday → Thai: เมย์เดย์ (mee-dee) ==== Translations ==== === See also === pan-pan SOS