See You Next Tuesday: Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking quizzes Grant Robertson, Megan Woods, Mark Mitchell on saucy sign-off

Fresh from the revelation that his seemingly innocent sign-off was, in fact, an obscene acronym, Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking has probed other politicians on whether they were wise to the hidden meaning behind ‘See you next Tuesday’.

Hosking had the text machine buzzing yesterday after ending his interview with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins with a cheery: “OK, appreciate your time, see you next Tuesday.”

Listeners quickly pointed out those four words are often perverted into a shorthand for one of the most offensive words in the English language.

Hosking later said he “honestly had no idea” of this usage, or abusage, of the phrase.

Our politicians, however, were not so innocent.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson told Hosking this morning that he “knew it was a thing”.

“I was trying to think about how I’d end this interview and I could say ‘I’ll see you next time’,” Robertson joked.

He revealed that the Labour caucus has performed a straw poll and found that 50 per cent were savvy to the rude message.

“What does that say about the people who know about it?” Hosking asked.

“That we’re worldly-wise Mike,” Robertson replied.

Hosking was later joined by Labour’s Megan Woods and National’s Mark Mitchell for their regular slot where attention turned briefly to the saying.

Hosking said he was not surprised to learn that Woods was aware of it while Mitchell was naive to the smutty saying.

“So I think you’re performing a public service then Mike, you’re educating the whole of New Zealand about what see you next Tuesday means,” Woods told the host.

“How did you know about it, Megan... where does it come from... when did you first discover it?” Hosking asked.

“This just seems like a therapy session,” Woods replied.

“Did your mum use it a lot around the house?” Hosking probed, before Woods suggested she probably learned it in the corridors of power.

“And you and I were just growing up completely innocent Mark - and we didn’t have a clue,” Hosking said.

Mitchell then asked Woods if she ever deployed the phrase in anger.

“Look I think that there’s all kinds of expressions that can be used.

“I like to think my vocabulary is rich and I have a range of expressions that I can use to express a range of emotions.”