WAGs: They Score!

"Victoria Beckham tries the hardest of the WAGs, and you have to give her credit for staying slim for so long," said Oliya Kalashnikova, 22, a student who was balancing a stack of celebrity magazines at a central London

bookstore. "They set a bad example that women are just there to look beautiful. But I do like to flick through magazines and have a look at what they are wearing."

"No one can relate to Posh, and I am not quite sure why I like looking at pictures of her. Coleen" -- that's Coleen McLoughlin, fiancee of footballer Wayne Rooney and dubbed "super WAG" by the press -- "is much more likable as the girl next door," said Joanna Bevis, a 25-year-old fashion buyer from London. "It's quite pathetic we like looking at their pictures just because they are married to someone famous."

"WAGs" entered the Collins English Dictionary in June, but trickled into pub conversations last year during the soccer World Cup when the WAGs -- in this case, accompanying the English national team -- stormed into Germany and displayed heroic feats of purchasing and clubbing. Receipts from their extravagant exploits were found and printed, prompting the Spanish press to howl: "Hooligans with Visa cards."

One WAG famously danced on a table and sang "I Will Survive" in the wee hours of the morning. When hotel management erected poolside privacy screens to shield them from the paparazzi, the WAGs asked that they be taken down.

Naturally, celebrity endorsements followed.

Last month four English soccer stars married in one weekend, sparking a near meltdown for celebrity magazines, not to mention the hassle for the guests who had to helicopter from one event to the next. Television has caught the bug, too, with a popular drama series called "Footballers' Wives," widely thought to be inspired by Victoria Beckham, and "Wags Boutique," a reality show that saw two teams of WAGs set up rival boutiques.

Unsurprisingly, not every WAG welcomes the term and its horribly reductive implications. Speaking to the Sun, Cheryl Cole, a singer for the band Girls Aloud and married to footballer Ashley Cole, scoffed at the World Cup scene: "It's like, 'Who's got the best watch on, who's got the best bag, which wife is dressed the best, which wife's got the best hair?' " She exclaimed: "I've got my own career!"

Others, like Coleen McLoughlin, famed for her "real-life curves," are proud WAGs, thank you very much. The 21-year-old lives with Rooney, arguably Britain's most talented soccer player, and writes a magazine column called "Welcome to my World!," in which she details her latest outings and rationales behind her outfit choices.

It turns out the moniker is quite useful off the soccer field as well. So, for example, when the former British foreign secretary used to travel with her 79-year-old husband, the Sunday Times felt justified in calling him "the political equivalent of a WAG." And of course there's an endless stream of spinoffs, including NAGS, the mothers-in-law of soccer players; WWAGS, the Wimbledon Wives and Girlfriends; and SWAGS, the (G8) Summit Wives and Girlfriends.

Clifford, the publicist, had some advice for Beckham's new American fans: "It's almost like a cult. Be thankful you don't have it over there."