Essay : The Struggle to Learn English: Roger, Wilco (Got It, Will Do)
This happened about forty years ago. I was at school in England. One day, a student a year above me saw me reading a newspaper in the classroom. Some time later, he came across me in the corridor and said, “Will you bring the newspaper of yours?” In other words, “Could you bring me the newspaper?” Without giving it a second thought, I replied, “Roger, Wilco.” I turned around to go back to the classroom and fetch the newspaper I had left there. But before I could take a single step, a Canadian teacher who happened to be nearby exclaimed, “What did you just say?!” “Er… I said, ‘Roger, Wilco.’” “What does that mean?!” “It means more or less the same as ‘Aye aye, sir.’” The Canadian teacher looked even more confused. I explained, “If ‘Aye aye, sir’ is a naval expression, ‘Roger, Wilco’ is something you hear in aviation radio communications.” The teacher did not seem convinced. Instead, he asked me, “Why does a Japanese girl like you know military terminology?” I cannot remember exact...