Original: It has also sometimes been used as a visual distress signal, consisting of three short, three long, three short light flashes such as from a survival mirror, or with "SOS" spelled out in individual letters, for example, stamped in a snowbank or formed out of logs on a beach.
Simplified: SOS has also sometimes been used as a visual distress signal, consisting of three-short/three-long/three-short light flashes, or with "SOS" spelled out in individual letters, for example, stamped in a snowbank or formed out of logs on a beach.