Yo, Blair Yo, Blair "Yo, Blair, what are you doing?" was an informal greeting reportedly made by United States President George W. Bush 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. Although the greeting was popularized as "Yo, Blair", American media outlets such as "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" transcribed it as "Yeah, Blair", while several British journalists, including Simon Hoggart and John Rentoul, have characterised the "Yo, Blair" transcript as a "myth": In
Yo, Blair 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"). "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