Ask many young people today what the distress signal SOS stands for, and few know. Save Our Souls. And when explained, there is puzzlement about the word 'soul'--is this a call for religious salvation? Why not 'Help'? But the word 'soul' here of course means 'life'. It is a call sent when lives are in grave danger.

We now rarely use the word 'soul' in English to mean 'life' or 'person', but until relatively recently it was commonly used this way. A village w