Va Va Voom

The French footballer Thierry Henry's search for the meaning of the unusual phrase "va-va-voom" is over. In one of more than 2,000 new inclusions in the 11th edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary, published today, the official definition of Henry's favourite word is "the quality of being exciting, vigorous, or sexually attractive".

Va Va Voom

Va-va-voom first appeared in the lyrics of a 1950s song and is used in an advertisement for Renault cars featuring the Arsenal and France star. Its inclusion in the new dictionary proves the power of the media over language.

"If a television host wanted to popularise a particular word, they could probably do it," said Judy Pearsall, the publishing manager of English dictionaries at Oxford University Press. Charles Jones, professor of English language at Edinburgh University, said: "These adverts are of short-term duration. In three or four years' time, if you asked someone, 'va-va-voom - where does that come from?' they probably wouldn't recognise it. But the inclusion of these words sells dictionaries."

Fast forward about 12 years later and would you believe that I now wear hair rollers religiously?! Gasp. I know. I'm slightly devastated at myself for it, but there are some really good reasons as to why every gal needs to just throw in a roller or two sometimes. The main reason? Well, you can get va-va-voom hair like this: 041b061a72