On December 12, 1901, Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi stood on a hill overlooking St. John's, Newfoundland, and received the first radio message ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean. That fateful message was just a few Morse pulses—the letter 'S', in fact—but it changed the face of the twentieth century. This month marks the 114th anniversary of Marconi's milestone, so we've asked Jeopardy!'s Ken Jennings to get on the air and clear the air about some of the most appalling misconceptions from radio's first century.
The Debunker: What Does "Over and Out" Mean?
James Bond in Goldfinger. Captain Quint in Jaws. On TV, Maxwell Smart's "Chief," Major Frank Burns, and Rod Serling. These are among the thousands of on-screen icons of authority and competence who have ended a radio communication with the immortal phrase "Over and out." It's a cliché of movie military men, TV cops, and kids with walkie-talkies. When you want to sound cool and official over the radio, "Over and out" are the prepositions you use to sign off from transmitting.
Except that the words "over" and "out" have very specific meanings in voice procedure, and it's impossible to use both of them together like this. Here's why. "Over" specifically means "Over to you"—that is, I'm done talking and await your reply. "Out" means the opposite: I'm done talking and am not hanging around for a reply. In other words, "over" is used in the middle of a exchange, while "out" is used only to end one. So saying "Over and out" would be nonsensical in the real world of air traffic control, police dispatchers, and so on.
Interestingly, another movie radio staple, "Roger Wilco," is also wrong, but for a different reason. "Roger" means "received" or "understood"—in fact, it derives from the fact that "Roger" was once used to represent the letter 'R' (the first letter in "received") in radio phonetic alphabets. "Wilco," on the other hand, is short for "will comply," and is only used, for obvious reasons, when the sender has received and understood the previous transmission. In other words "Wilco" means both "Roger" and "Wilco," so saying both words is redundant. But it's totally okay to say "Roger, Roger. What's the vector, Victor?"
Quick Quiz: Which album by the rock band Wilco has a title taken directly from the phonetic radio alphabet?
Ken Jennings is the author of six books, most recently his Junior Genius Guides, Because I Said So!, and Maphead. He's also the proud owner of an underwhelming Bag o' Crap. Follow him at ken-jennings.com or on Twitter as @KenJennings.