Roger, Invigilate and Proctor

My brother's childhood friend is a police officer. Hence, we communicate more by email than by telephone lest we interrupt him in his work. Email will also give him the time to reply at his own pace. I wrote to him to confirm his lunch appointment with my brother and to my surprise and amusement, he replied, "Roger". I grew up hearing this word, "Roger" being uttered by police officers and organisers using walkie talkies, and somehow could guess the meaning of the word. Hence I decided I would look into the Oxford Dictionary to verify the word, "roger". To my surprise, it has two meanings :- 1) in communication by radio, to show a message has been understood; 2) British English slang (of a man) to have sex with somebody. My brother's friend laughed and said he has never known of the second meaning of "roger."!

I wrote to my buddy, Richard Tam, who is now living in the States and asked him if there is an American slang for the word, "Roger". Richard informed me that the only meaning given in the American dictionary is to show that a message has been received and understood. He also has never heard of the British slang for "Roger." I am curious to find out how many of my readers know of the two meanings of the word "Roger". Please let me have your feedback.

Earlier Richard had asked me about the meaning of "invigilate" which I mentioned in my article, "Adventures of a Little Daihatsu Cuore". Since he could not find the word in the American dictionary, he deduced that the word meant "to supervise an examination" and he was correct. I grew up hearing the word "invigilate" that I had never bothered to check the meaning in the dictionary. From Richard, I learnt that the equivalent of invigilate in America would be the word, "Proctor".

The English Language is so rich and beautiful. I have been learning English for the past four decades and am still learning new words and meanings all the time.

So gentlemen, do exercise caution when you say "Roger!" to the ladies!

Gan Chau :-)