Katy Perry was left shocked after she discovered that the lyric 'zig-a-zih-ah' from the Spice Girls' 1996 hit 'Wannabe' has a rude meaning behind it

Emma, 41, began to hesitantly spill what the made up words stand for, saying: "It means ... it's rude ... well it kind of means..."

Katy, 32, then interrupted to say: "Is it rude for us to talk over you or are you just saying?"

Baby Spice then said: "No, it can mean anything you want it to mean but we all kind of, when we..."

The pop megastar - who is a huge fan of the Spice Girls - then blurted out: "You've had media training on this for a few years, 'It can mean whatever you want, it's your interpretation.' "

To which Emma coyly stated: "It's rude."

Prompting a stunned Katy - who is in London to perform at the BRIT Awards - to quiz: "It is?! Really?"

Previously, an unnamed individual who worked on the Spice Girls' debut smash hit single claimed the line was invented by Scary Spice Mel B about a guy with a disgusting toilet habit who the five girls shared studios with when they recorded 'Wannabe' in Shoreditch, London.

The source told Daily Star Online: "Most of our studio neighbours were way cooler than us, we had Orbital and Chemical Brothers next door. But there was this one 80s pop dude who hated us for encroaching what he considered 'his turf' which was boy bands and girl bands. This guy had this nasty habit of taking a dump in the shared toilet while smoking a cigar, so we took to referring to him as 'S**t and Cigars'. During the recording this phrase was thrown around a lot and must have worked its way into Mel B's subconscious who pretty much wrote all the lyrics. She may have considered 'S*** and Cigar' for a minute - but eventually settled on 'zig-a-zig-ah' instead."