In my english class last week we were all in hoots as the teacher read out particularly choice phrases from one girl's essay (the girl in question was also laughing her head off, she knows it was a bad essay). She referred to King Lear as "that bloke" and used the phrase "and other stuff". The problem is that most people don't read enough formal writing to know how to use it. It's also not something we're properly taught at school here, and when you reach eighteen and can't write an essay without resorting to colloquialisms, there is something wrong.
That said, even I struggle when I read an article in the Times referring to a woman living "without a hint of unction or moral hauteur". Who exactly uses these words? I mean, really. Unction?