[Ads-l] antedating "wilco"

[Dan Goncharoff]

Possibly a mistranscription? Maybe the pilot said ROGER, not the tower.

You are right that ROGER was the wrong word for the tower to use there.

DanG

On Sun, Feb 11, 2018 at 9:00 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> OED: 1946
>
> 1941 _Sunday Oregonian_ (Portland) (Dec. 7) 90 [ReadEx]:
> The Tower answers, "Tower to four-seven-two. Land in the east. Wheels down
> and locked. Go ahead." I say, "Four-seven-two, wilco."
>
> Earlier, "Tower to four-seven-two. You may take off, Roger."
>
> The writer is an air cadet at Randolph Field, but this use of "Roger" (no,
> not his name) seems wrong or archaic (i.e., new to me).
>
> It should be "Out." Or perhaps "Over." Shouldn't it?
>
> JL
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org