The worrying world of eating disorder wannabes

I first heard about “wannarexia” while sitting on the bus. A group of teenage girls on their way into central London to go shopping were dissecting each of their classmates. One girl in particular received marked censure. “She's such a wannarexic,” said one. The others all agreed. Forced to admit that I was out of the loop with teen jargon I turned to the internet, the bible of youth trends.

Wannarexia is a pejorative term and, says Urban Dictionary (www.urbandictionary.com), is “an imaginary disease most commonly found amongst preteen to teenage, overweight females who claim to have the eating disorder anorexia, …