Julian Dayforth, 43, a liberal new man who enjoys the hoopla of modern football and competitive grammar oneupmanship, was in turmoil yesterday as he struggled with the conundrum of what to call a single member of a group of footballers’ WAGs.
“It was when I was explaining in significantly pompous detail to a friend that WAG refers to the players’ wives and girlfriends collectively. One out shopping on her own is a wife or girlfriend and should therefore be refered to as a … be a…well you see my problem…” he said.
Fortunately the moment of crisis passed as his friend explained that while it was true that a woman couldn’t be wife and girlfriend to a player at the same time, the picture they were looking at was of the wife of a prominent Chelsea player and therefore probably also being boffed by club captain John Terry on the side, so the abbreviation WAG remained appropriate.