The always stimulating Language Log blog features a post on hated words in titles. Current suggestions for a world ban are whither, revisited, status, role and (lower-case n) nature.

These words may crop up more frequently in the linguistics literature than they do as part of titles in the scientific literature. A favourite phrase that is usually edited out of titles on Nature journals is “Evidence for”. “New” is an over-used word in titles, and indeed in the body of the paper. Any other pet hates that cause the reader’s eyes hastily to move on to the next item in the table of contents?