# UK Dopers: about the word "roger..."
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-about-the-word-roger/529307
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 17, 2010, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-about-the-word-roger/529307 "2010-02-17T06:41:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2010, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-about-the-word-roger/529307/1 "2010-02-17T06:41:52Z")
I’m working on a novel set in 1714. While reading diaries from that general era I’ve seen the word “roger” used as a verb meaning “to copulate with.” It was also used as a noun, meaning the penis. To my American ear, this usage of the word “roger” sounds quaint, obscure and largely inoffensive, and I’ve used it a few times in the narrative.
However, I’m not sure if UK readers would react in the same way. Is the sexual meaning of “roger” still current in the UK, and if so, is it considered coarse or infantile?
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### Author:  [@QuardleOodleArdleWardleDoodle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuardleOodleArdleWardleDoodle)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2010, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-about-the-word-roger/529307/2 "2010-02-17T07:09:19Z")
I’s a bit old fashioned but still used, though its not really offensive, more joking or humorous.
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### Author:  [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2010, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-about-the-word-roger/529307/3 "2010-02-17T07:49:50Z")
My boyfriend, who is Irish, uses “roger” as a verb infrequently, but only ever in a joking way.
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2010, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-about-the-word-roger/529307/4 "2010-02-17T07:55:48Z")
It would be understood (though I’ve never heard the “penis” usage).
When I was growing up (70s and 80s) there was a cartoon called [Captain Pugwash](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Pugwash), around which several apocryphal stories grew (e.g. “Pugwash” was a naval term for a soapy wank; one of the characters was called Seaman Staines) - one of which was that there was a character called “Roger the Cabin boy”. Though this was untrue, the meaning was unambiguous to us.
“A rogering” would also be understood as a noun, in the context of “I’d like to give her a good rogering”. However, it does sound kinda 70s-sitcom to me now.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2010, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-about-the-word-roger/529307/5 "2010-02-17T07:58:50Z")
How about swive instead? I think (but am not sure) that this would be an appropriate word to use in that time.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2010, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-about-the-word-roger/529307/6 "2010-02-17T08:25:54Z")
> [@Danimal](#):
>
> Is the sexual meaning of “roger” still current in the UK, and if so, is it considered coarse or infantile?
Most definitely still current, but IME it’s more used by the upper classes. And definitely not infantile.
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### Author:  [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2010, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-about-the-word-roger/529307/7 "2010-02-17T09:24:30Z")
> [@jjimm](#):
>
> It would be understood (though I’ve never heard the “penis” usage).
>
> When I was growing up (70s and 80s) there was a cartoon called [Captain Pugwash](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Pugwash), around which several apocryphal stories grew (e.g. “Pugwash” was a naval term for a soapy wank; one of the characters was called Seaman Staines) - one of which was that there was a character called “Roger the Cabin boy”. Though this was untrue, the meaning was unambiguous to us.
>
> “A rogering” would also be understood as a noun, in the context of “I’d like to give her a good rogering”. However, it does sound kinda 70s-sitcom to me now.
You forgot Master Bates. 😉
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### Author:  [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2010, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-about-the-word-roger/529307/8 "2010-02-17T10:46:30Z")
Weird, I could have sworn I posted in here a couple of hours ago…
Anyways, I’m wondering if you’re confusing the words ‘roger’ (which is definitely slang for sex) with ‘todger’ (which is slang for penis)?
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### Author:  [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-about-the-word-roger/529307/9 "2010-02-17T20:59:24Z")
In the second season of the West Wing there’s a flashback episode showing how the president’s staff came together in the campaign. The first time Josh saw the future president Bartlet was when Bartlet was giving a Q&A session at an American legion hall in his home state of New Hampshire.
While Bartlet had been in Congress he voted against a measure that would have raised the price of milk about five cents a gallon, and a NH dairy farmer called him on that vote during his Q&A. Bartlet said, “I screwed you. I rogered ya good.”
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### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-about-the-word-roger/529307/10 "2010-02-18T00:55:17Z")
There was a guy on a British-based message board with the name, “Roger the Cabin Boy”.
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### Author:  [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-about-the-word-roger/529307/11 "2010-02-18T00:55:53Z")
> [@sandra\_nz](#):
>
> Weird, I could have sworn I posted in here a couple of hours ago…
>
> Anyways, I’m wondering if you’re confusing the words ‘roger’ (which is definitely slang for sex) with ‘todger’ (which is slang for penis)?
“Roger” as a noun may be obsolete now, but in the 1720s it pretty clearly a phallic noun as well as a verb. William Byrd wrote that he caused a maid to “feel his roger,” and while in London he wrote with chagrin, “my roger would not stand with all she could do.” (Merril Smith, _Sex and Sexuality in Early America_, pps. 144 and 153). Byrd also uses “roger” as a verb.
“Swive” is a new one on me. [Randomhouse.com](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19990127) says it was popular throughout the 17th and early 18th centuries, which fits well with my novel’s setting. Thanks for the tip!