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I have been following the fantastic 24 series from FOX. If you do so too, you should have noticed that the phrase "Roger that" has been used by field agents frequently. Well, it's easy to guess that it means "I acknowledge and understand your message", but what is the origin of the phrase? I have done some research and here are my findings.

Its origin traces back to the use of the Phonetic Alphabet [en.wikipedia.org] and the Morse code [en.wikipedia.org]. A phonetic alphabet is a list of words used to identify letters clearly in a voice communication. E.g., to convey the spelling of "Harp", you can spell it with phonetic alphabet as "Hotel Alpha Romeo Papa". There is currently a standard, commonly known as the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, which is recognized internationally and used in some occasions.

Now take a look at the Morse code. There are some prosigns (or Procedural Signals) in the Morse code that have special meanings. A common prosign is letter R (dot-dash-dot), which has the special meaning of "Received and understood".

During World War II, the Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet has been developed for use in joint Allied operations. In that (obsolete) standard, the letter R was spelled as Roger. Somehow, the special meaning of R in Morse code was adopted in the voice communication in the military. Naturally, Roger becomes the word to mean "heard you and understood" in voice communication.

The use of Roger becomes so popular that it survives that shift of phonetic alphabet standard. Today, Romeo is used to spell the letter R in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet. But Roger still retains that special meaning...