VCE English Language 2026 Unit 3 AOS 1: 'Informal Language' Essay Evidence

Wilsons store brand blends.

‘Fladle’ (fold flat scraping ladle), ‘Hullapit’ (Berry huller and pitter) ‘Flegg’ (Flip serve egg ring). ‘Dreamfarm’ Brand.

‘albomp’ twitter post Jan 2026.

‘ICYMI’, context specific graphemes (pointing hand emoji).

BCF Instagram post

‘Chrissy is BCFing Fun’

Facebook post March 2026 ‘oldies’.

Wants to volunteer at an ‘old folks home’ and ‘befriend some oldies’. Was told to ‘Have some RESPECT. RESPECT your elders.’

Married at First Sight 2026 Women’s examples.

Shortening of the word ‘relationship’ to ‘relaish’, the blending of the words ‘situation’ and ‘relationship’ to form ‘situationship’, and the use of the popular youth slang term ‘Karen’ by one participant to critique herself. ‘Babes’, ‘Hun’, ‘Girlie’.

Married at First Sight 2026 Men’s group.

Dysphemistic expressions including the idiom ‘shooting bricks’ and swearing such as ‘fing’ and ‘dam’. ‘Fat’, ‘lads’, ‘brother’, ‘mate’.

Robert Irwin 2026 Instagram post promoting ‘I’m a celebrity’.

The playful colloquialism ‘holey moley’, the idiomatic expression ‘run for their money’, and the connected speech process of elision on the word ‘and’ in the imperative ‘come an’ have a look’.

‘Karen’ example

In a Jan 2026 article The Age, author David Astle described the term Karen as ‘ageist and sexist’, and a ‘private hell’ for women who shared this name.

Supermarket workplace example.

In a recent article on news dot com, a young Australian deli worker was reprimanded by a customer for addressing him using the common colloquialism ‘mate’, as it was ‘unprofessional to use that word in the workplace.’ The author went on to state that they may be ‘slightly miffed’ if they were addressed this way in a more formal setting than a supermarket, and that when they hear the non-standard lexeme ‘youse’, it feels like ‘fingernails down a chalkboard.’

Students addressing teachers informally.

It is not uncommon for Australian high school students to address their teachers informally, ditching the titles of ‘Mr’ or ‘Ms’ in favour of hypocoristic suffixation and similar features. Possible examples include 'Smitho’ from ‘Mr Smith’, ‘Jonesy’ from ‘Ms Jones’ or simply by shortening to just the first initial of their surname, ‘G’ for example.'

McDonald’s employee slang Victoria 2026.

Hypocoristic suffixation ‘tenner’, ‘halfer’. Shortenings ‘drive’, ‘cash’, verb ‘drop’.

Theatre Backstage Slang.

Shortenings ‘Mic’ (microphone) and ‘cyc’ (cyclorama), ‘Chookas’, ‘The Scottish Play’, ‘OP’ (Opposite Prompt).

Rugby coach message to team 2026.

Dysphemisms ‘pussies’ and ‘fuck’. Repetition ‘smack rucks’, ‘smack people.’

ANU researcher quotes.

‘Using Australian slang increases your likeability among other Australians.’- ANU researcher Evan Kidd 2016.

Informal Language in Australian Parliament.

Fatima Payman 2025 speech ‘sigmas’, ‘capping’. Queensland senators 2025 ‘drunk as a skunk’, ‘sook’.