The word is used in so many songs, but I think it was the rapper, musician and horse dancer Psy who made the biggest impression on my children.

And, now, I’ve just realised, I have to write this blog post without actually mentioning the word, just in case it sends people to my corner of the internet for the wrong reason.

So bear with me.

Psy’s viral hit Gangnam Style didn’t only become the first YouTube video to reach two billion views, it also led to millions of primary school-aged children reciting (endlessly) the lyrics, “Hey, s**y lady”.

This, of course, then evolved to my boys saying, at the top of their voices, and usually at an inopportune moment: “Mummy’s s**y!” … *Awkward*

“Erm, ask Daddy!”

“Do you know what that means?” I asked my oldest.

“Well, it’s quite hard to define,” he replied.

I nearly choked on my tea. What, on earth, was he going to say next? Is it possible an 8-year-old could articulate the very essence of **x appeal?

“Daddy says it means beautiful,” says Son1.

“Or I love you,” chipped in Son2.

“I don’t know exactly what it means,” Son1 continued (PHEW!), “but I think I’ve seen it on TV.”

“Well, it’s an adult word,” I told them. “You shouldn’t say Mummy’s s**y.”

The sound of a drumroll echoed in my ears the way it always does when my children ask me hard-to-answer questions about the universe. I braced myself, ready to explain it was ‘complicated’.

“Mum, what’s for dinner?”