When you were much younger, and the adults inquired as to your career goals, if you said, "I wanna be an invigilator, here's your opportunity.

Well, I already am, and my team and I will have invigilated around 9000 candidates between August 2005 and September 2006.

But I wouldn't say it's a major career aspiration - just a contract I bid for and won.

I've never heard the word! Sounds as if one keeps a vigil, but the context sounds as if one who invigilates is a proctologist - er, I mean proctor.

Well, if I was any good at photoshop- I'm not!- I would have combined Richard's picture with the one of Arnie's the other one,not ours!-cover of 'The Terminator' video. I can see Richard clutching a Desert Eagle automatic- he shot at Bisley, remember- as 'The Invigilator'!

The only time I've heard the word is in emails from Richard where he talks about his invigilating.

The only meaning I have ever heard for the term is "...Someone who watches examination candidates to prevent cheating..."

What other meaning does it have in the USA?

It's a common enough term here defined as Richard defines it above.

I don't think it has any other meanings, RE. Just "to keep watch" or "monitor" or "supervise".

It just sounds like "The Terminator" . . . which brings up vivid images for most Americans.

Invigilator is not a word we use here.

quote:

It just sounds like "The Terminator"

But it sounds like many other nouns ending in "...ator" as well - so what's so funny about invigilator? Many verbs can be turned into a noun by the simple device of using the "...ator" ending.

Excavate; ruminate; flagellate; correlate...

quote:

It just sounds like "The Terminator"

I think that's because the sound of invigilater brings to mind vigilant and vigilante.

I was thinking more of invigorate.

Richard, we would call those people proctors, but that isn't a job in itself. In academia often a faculty member or even a receptionist or secretary can proctor the exams. However, during a licensure exam or other high-stakes exam, the proctors may be trained as such. I am not certain, though I could find out.

Invigilation is a serious issue here and likely to become more so as awarding bodies are using examinations more and more, and course work assessment less and less. Thus invigilators (proctors is a synonym but not used much in England) have to be competent and there are recognised training courses for them

So there's no difference between invigilator and proctor?

According to Wordweb:

Proctor:
Someone who supervises (an examination.

Invigilator:
Someone who watches examination candidates to prevent cheating.

There is maybe an implication that the duties of a proctor could be wider than those of an invigilator, but my invigilators are responsible for the entire conduct of the examination on the day, and I would consider their duties to be the same as a proctor's.

I would regard the two terms as meaning the same.

Dictionary.com says nothing about the pronunciaton of invigilator, which is a brand-new addition to my vocabulary.

Is it in-VIGIL-ator, emphasizing the practioner's watchfulness, or is it in-VIGGLE-ator, suggesting his observation of body language symptomatic of the examinees' restlessness?

It's inVIGilator. I suspect its root is "vigil", one meaning of which is "A purposeful surveillance to guard or observe".

It's a very common word in UK English amongst the academic fraternity.