Yo, Blair

"Yo, Blair. How are you doing?" was the apparently folksySusie Dent (2007) "The Language Report: English on the move 2000-2007"] greeting that United States President George W. Bush gave to British Prime Minister Tony Blair during the summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations ("G8") in St Petersburg, Russia, on 17 July 2006. The quote gained wide popularity across the media.

"Yo, Blair!" is the title of a polemical 2006 book by Geoffrey Wheatcroft, attacking Blair on various issues, particularly his relationship with Bush.

The "Yo Blair" text

There was considerable interest both in the "Yo, Blair" phrase itself and in the ensuing impromptu conversation (known as the "Yo Blair text") which, supposedly private, was in fact picked up by a microphone. In the course of the exchange, Bush, among other things, thanked Blair for the gift of a sweater and, more importantly, referred to an armed conflict that had just broken out in Lebanon between Israeli forces and the Shi'a group Hezbollah ("What they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit")."The Times", 22 July 2006]

Although the greeting was popularized as "Yo, Blair", some media outlets such as "The New York Times" [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/17/world/middleeast/17cnd-prexy.html?_r=1&oref=login Amid Pomp, Bush Is Pumped and Chat Is Candid - New York Times ] ] and "The Washington Post" [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/17/AR2006071700205.html Bush Utters Expletive on Hezbollah Attacks ] ] transcribed it as "Yeah, Blair".

"Yo, Blair" as a catchphrase

"Yo, Blair" or "Yo, [any surname] " almost immediately became a catchphrase in Britain. In her annual "language report" (2007) for the Oxford University Press, the lexicographer Susie Dent devoted over half a page to the term, including some of the references below.

When Blair rose to make a statement in the House of Commons on 19 July 2006, he was greeted with cries from the Opposition benches of "Yo!". [ [http://www.tendowningstreet.gov.uk/output/Page12044.asp Blair archive - Prime Minister's Questions ] ] A cartoon by Gerald Scarfe in "The Sunday Times" showed Bush in a rocking chair, dressed as a sheriff, directing his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, "Yo, Condi. Better go check out that sh*t " [sic] ". Don't hurry". ["Sunday Times", 23 July 2006]

"Yo George"

This was the subject of a cartoon by Scarfe, reflecting on the Anglo-American "special relationship", in which Bush, atop scenes of devastation, disbursed unequal quantities of munitions for Israel and aid for Lebanon. A small, plaintive Blair looked on and, raising his hand, asked, "Yo George. I just wondered if I might have a word?". ["Sunday Times", 30 July 2006]

"Yo George", the highly political first track on Tori Amos' 2007 album "American Doll Posse", is a direct reference to the "Yo, Blair" incident. ["CBC radio interview", 30 April 2007]

"Yo Vicar": "Private Eye"

Predictably, the satirical magazine "Private Eye" began its regular spoof letter from the vicar of St Albion's parish church (the Rev. A.R.P. Blair, M.A.) with the greeting, "Yo!". ["Private Eye", 4 August 2006] The ensuing epistle contained a range of variants, "Yo, Running Scared", "Yo Vicar" and "Yo, Dubya" (the latter invoking a well established play on Bush's middle initial).

"Yo" as slang

"Yo" has been used as an exclamation to attract attention since the 15th century, ["Oxford Dictionary of New Words" (1991)] as in the cry, "Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!" in Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" (1883). In the early 20th century "yo" was used in lower middle class British slang as a "declaration of admiration ... to the softer sex by the sterner". [J Redding Ware (1909) "Passing English"] From the late 20th century it frequently appeared in hip hop music and became associated with African American Vernacular English and also Afro-Caribbeans.

Former British Government Minister Denis MacShane observed that "Yo, Blair" was the American equivalent of "wotcher, mate" and that metaphorically Bush and Blair had been addressing each other using the French informal "tu" ("you") (as opposed to the more formal "vous"). ["Times", 22 July 2006]

"Pedigree Chum"

Some commentators detected in the "Yo Blair" encounter an air of condescension on Bush's part. For example, former British Foreign Secretary and NATO Secretary-General Lord Carrington reflected that "Iraq, and more recently Lebanon, have totally sidelined us. We have far less influence than we had. That 'Yo, Blair' exchange ... was so humiliating". ["The Oldie", October 2006] Towards the end of 2006 an analyst at the US State Department, Kendall Myers, was widely quoted as admitting that, despite British efforts, "we typically ignore them - it's a sad business". [London "Evening Standard", 30 November 2006]

Following a meeting in Washington between Bush and Blair on 28 July to discuss the situation in Lebanon, cartoonist for "The Times" Neil Bennett, depicted, above the caption, "Gifts were exchanged before the Washington summit", a Burberry bag (an allusion to "Yo Blair") being swapped for a tin of dog food marked "Pedigree Chum". ["Times", 29 July 2006] This was a reference to the charge of some that Blair had been acting as America's "poodle" (a metaphor which, though widely used towards the end of July 2006, dated back to 1907 when David Lloyd George referred to the British House of Lords as "Mr Balfour's Poodle" ["A mastiff? It is the right hon. Gentleman's poodle": House of Commons, 26 June 1907. See also Roy Jenkins (1954) "Mr Balfour's Poodle"] ). In May 2007 Bush denied that Blair was his "poodle", but remarked on his "dogged" style of leadership. [ [http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070517/tod-us-britain-diplomacy-f62056d.html] ]

Harper event

On Monday July 7th 2008 at the 34th annual G8 summit in Toyako, Japan, while speaking with Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua, Bush summoned Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper with a brusque "Yo Harper!" Much like in the UK, political and public reaction has been divided between this being an indication of the close relationship between the two, the subservience of Harper or simply another example of the "folksy" disposition of Bush.

Notes

ee also

*United Kingdom as the 51st state
*Special relationship
*Anglo-American relations
*Foreign relations of the United Kingdom
*Foreign relations of the United States

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5188258.stm Transcript: Bush and Blair's unguarded chat] (BBC News, 18 July 2006). A revised version was published in the "Times", 22 July 2006.
*Jon Stewart analyzes [http://www.yoism.org/?q=node/69 the Yo Blair incident] (2nd video on the page)

Press comment

* cite web | author = Nick Robinson
date = 2006-07-27
publisher = BBC
url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2006/07/the_poodle_fact.html
title = The poodle factor
accessdate = 2006-12-16
* cite web | author = Andrew Rawnsley
date = 2006-07-23
publisher = The Observer
url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1827058,00.html
title = It wasn't the 'Yo' that was humiliating, it was the 'No'
accessdate = 2006-12-16
* cite web | author = Reuters
date = 2006-07-18
publisher = China Daily
url = http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2006-07/18/content_643832.htm
title = Yo Bush! Blair mocked as U.S. poodle
accessdate = 2006-12-16
* cite web | author = Ann Treneman
date = 2006-07-19
publisher = The Times
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,17129-2276266,00.html
title = Yo ho-ho it's Blair live and unplugged
accessdate = 2006-12-16
* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/politicsphilosophyandsociety/0,,2020670,00.html Mary Riddell, Sunday Observer, 25 February 2007]