One of the most common complaints about the world of science is it’s inaccessibility to the everyday person. Carl Zimmer has put together an “Index of Banned Words”. Words that should be vanquished from the vocabulary of scientists everywhere. The list includes the taboos “elucidate”, “predation”, “mechanism”, and (gasp!) “community ecology”.
Reading through the list has made me realize how incredibly predictable my choice of words has become when writing in my science courses.