“roger” to acknowledge receipt of a message or instructions. “Roger”
at one time was the phonetic designation for the letter R, which in turn stood for
“received.”
From a safety perspective, it makes sense
to use standardized language, particularly when dealing with international operations. An
American pilot may not understand German, but they both understand aviation
terminology.
In the
military's phonetic alphabet, "roger" didn't become the designation for R until
1927
In 1957 "roger" was replaced by "romeo," the
current designation, but by then "roger" = "received" was so entrenched that the
brass knew better than to try and change it.
“roger, roger” in Phantom
Menace
sly (OK, not that sly) reference to Airplane
(1980)
such lines as:
Captain Oveur (Peter Graves):
Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?
pilot who invokes our friend Roger Wilco
is saying “I understand you, and will follow your instructions,” only cooler and
shorter.
clipped from: web.archive.org