vo

VO in France, the French speaking parts of Switzerland and many former French colonies is used in Cinemas as an acronym for Version Originale and means that the films sound is in original format (not dubbed into French) and that the film will include french sub-titles if originally done in another language. In countries where more than one primary language is spoken, such as Switzerland where both German and French are spoken, the subtitles will appear in both languages, but be sure to check that this is the case. In Belgium it is quite often the case that subtitles will either be in Flemish or French, not both.

If you are an anglophone visiting France and want to see the latest Hollywood Blockbuster in a language you can understand look for VO in the advertisting.

If it says VF you may be a little lost if your French isn't up to scratch.

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An acronym standing for "Very Old" qualifying cognac as having aged in oak barrels for 4.5 to 6.5 years,
just like VSOP.
Older and more expensive than VS or * * *.
Younger and cheaper than XO.

VO
Voice over. In television news, a VO is a short story written by a reporter or producer for the anchor to read (voice) over video or a graphic. Generally 20 or 30 seconds long, a VO is the bare minimum for a news story, and generally includes just generic info ("a man" instead of the suspect/victim's name, for instance). Video may be shot by a photographer unaccompanied by a reporter, who then gives the reporter the details of the story to write without having witnessed the actual event. (Sometimes photographers write stories too, but generally the video's the photog's job and writing's the reporter's.)

Sometimes these are culled from press releases. Sometimes the reporter/producer simply does not have a lot of info but finds the story newsworthy.

VOs often tease forward to more complete stories, as in "we'll have more on that story tonight at 11." They are also used for scaled-down versions of older stories, as in "yesterday we told you about the brutal beating of a family pet on the city's east side...today, police are still looking for a suspect."

See also VO-SOT and package.