Tier 1 - ENG LANG

Most impressive/outstanding paragraphs I always try to present/stack, whenever possible

Discriminatory language

1. Racist

2. Sexist

3. Inflammatory

Obfuscation

1. Political doublespeak (jargon + euphemism)

2. Corporate doublespeak

Politeness and social harmony

1. NDL promoting social harmony/establishing inclusivity (identity)

2. NDL cancel culture/censorship

3. Excessive NDL threatens social harmony, paradoxically

Police euphemisms

Crime of passion (clarity undermines their authority, but preserves victims’ FN)

Discriminatory language

Racist

In Australian political discourse, the noun phrase ‘tidal wave of immigrants’ has been used to describe recent arrivals to the country. At first, the metaphorical noun phrase ‘tidal wave’ carries neutral connotations, however it acquires a strongly pejorative undertone when combined with the common noun ‘immigrants’, drawing parallels between humans seeking a better life or refuge to an overwhelming, catastrophic force, framing such immigrants as a nuisance. Such language dehumanises migrants, reducing them to a natural disaster threatening societal stability, perpetuating xenophobic attitudes and racial stereotypes, consequently stigmatising and alienating migrant communities in Australia.

In late 2024, Queensland Liberal party leader Crisafulli used the phrase ‘generation of untouchables’ to describe Indigenous youth offenders, expressing his views that First Nations people receive disproportionate leniency, a perception rooted in the idea that past societal sympathy has led to a form of reverse racism, granting this demographic a sense of exemption from usual consequences. However, such racial rhetoric perpetuates stereotypes of Indigenous people being unlawful citizens, and consequently resulting in vigilantes feeling a sense of justification in their actions, with a post stating ‘the Indigenous are untouchables and a protected species by the UN’

Discriminatory language

Sexist

Misogynistic in nature, sexist language erodes Australia’s social harmony among males and females. Without doubt, when such language appears within private discourse, it relegates women to a weaker position of less significance. On May 11, 2025, a Facebook user—allegedly a serving Queensland Police detective—commented under a post about a domestic violence awareness event by What Were You Wearing. “All I see is a lot of women sitting around...and a lot of sandwiches NOT getting made.” The concrete noun laden with negative connotations of requisite household chores, confines women to a domestic role of preparing food for their male counterparts. The dysphemistic sentence inflames the sexist and taboo stereotype of women traditionally adopting domestic roles, degrading women by threatening negative face needs, as autonomy of doing other tasks is violated. Such discriminatory language threatens social harmony by establishing power asymmetry between the males and females.

In May 2025, a Kate Burridge article exposed the semantic deterioration of the noun ‘granny’, going from its positive connotations of being an affectionate, familial figure to carrying negative connotations of being a hinderance, for example in the context of sports, injured players are labelled as ‘old grann[ies]’, acting as a liability to their own team. The deterioration in semantics of this maternal-like figure to a pejorative reflects the societal attitude towards women, reinforcing stereotypes of them being inferior and incapable. [This showing a divergence away from traditional Australian values of egalitarianism, and also the resistance of contemporary Australian society’s shift towards political correctness.]

Obfuscation

Political doublespeak (jargon + euphemism)

In 2025, the Coalition’s 41,000-job proposal was repeatedly framed in the media as to be achieved by “natural attrition” and “voluntary redundancies”, euphemistic terms that function as political doublespeak. The adjective ‘natural’ in the abstract noun phrase ‘natural attrition’ portrays the process as an inevitable event, rather than a mass dismissal imposed by authorities, while the nominalisation ‘attrition’ holds no connotations, hiding the true nature of this process. Similarly, the noun phrase ‘voluntary redundancies’ also reframes job losses as individual choices made by the employees by providing autonomy, rather than a managerial decision. Consequently, public perception of harm is manipulated through obscuring the scale and timeline of workforce reduction, resulting in ambiguity to avoid backlash.

Obfuscation

Corporate doublespeak

In 2025, Macquarie Group faced significant backlash from shareholders after defending its CEO’s $24 million ‘remuneration package’, describing the pay as a ‘largely bonus-based’ package justified by its ‘alignment with long-term shareholder value’. Here, the financial jargon ‘remuneration’ and ‘bonus-based’ portrays this as the logical outcome of a systemic corporate process rather than a discretionary choice, diffusing responsibility within the entire group. Furthermore, the ambiguous and indirect nature of the complex noun phrase ‘long-term shareholder value’ obscures the reality of the situation through its overwhelming verbosity, increasing inaccessibility in an attempt to evade responsibility.

Deceptive yet subtle, corporate jargon obfuscates through its inaccessible nature. In 2025, BHP’s sustainability report referred to the reduction of greenhouse gases as managing ‘Scope 3 emissions’, harnessing the technical nature of such jargon to create sophistication and consequently minimise intelligibility. Here, the jargon pertaining to the semantic domain of pollution detaches the corporation from its emissions, while making it difficult for the public to assess their actual progress, thus diffusing responsibility to evade accountability.

Politeness and social harmony

NDL promoting social harmony/establishing inclusivity (identity)

Neutral and humanising in nature, non-discriminatory language can be used to promote social harmony. Within media discourse, the noun phrase ‘homeless people’ has been replaced with ‘people experiencing homelessness’, reframing this demographic as humans undergoing a temporary circumstance rather than a fixed identity by placing ‘people’ as the head noun, therefore detaching the individual from this negatively stereotyped identity associated with moral failure. Such language fosters empathy and inclusivity, encouraging Australians to perceive those affected as equal members of society, achieving social harmony.

In early 2025, Australian education departments introduced official guidelines promoting person-first language in schools and public programs, encouraging educators to use phrases such as ‘student with disability’ instead of ‘disabled student’. By inverting the order of the adjective-noun phrase “disabled student”, the language places importance on the person rather than their condition, avoiding emotional disconnect and placing emphasis on the person instead through front focus. This emphasis of the person demonstrates institutional and societal empathy towards such people, actively adapting language to avoid labels that reduce these students down to their conditions, reinforcing contemporary Australian values of sympathy and inclusion while demonstrating the versatility of Australian English.

Politeness and social harmony

NDL cancel culture/censorship

Excessive NDL threatens social harmony, paradoxically

Within Australia policing and media discourse, the noun phrase ‘crime of passion’ is occasionally employed to describe instances of murder or violent assault committed under intense emotional circumstances. Here, the prepositional phrase ‘of passion’ acting as an adjective reframes these heinous crimes as an impulsive, situational act, emphasising the perpetrator’s emotional state over the victim’s suffering. Such excessive pursuit of politeness through unnecessary euphemisms reduces the culpability of the offender, consequently neglecting the family of the victim’s face needs by normalising violence and failing to acknowledge their loss and trauma.