WAP, dongle, and cookie are three of the least understood words by the general public, according to a popularsurvey. The Gadget Helpline surveyed more than 5,000 users and created a Top Ten list of technology-related words people find most vexing.

Theadvice linestates companies ought to use termswecomprehend, instead of using jargon. The move is supported by the Plain English Campaign, announcing it would help knock down the "walls of techno-babble".

Peter Griffiths, campaign secretary for the Plain English Campaign, informed us that there were means to makewords clearer for users to understand. "We need to pull our head out of the digital clouds and use plain English," he said.

"If changing the name isn't an option then a glossary of terms would work. Not only does it explain the language, but it's a goodmethod of learning for people who don't have such a solid grasp ofthe English language."

Many of the words, like Digital TV, have entered the English language but not everyone knows what they mean.

Not only that, loads of firms have different names for identical products, which confusesmatterseven more.

Alex Watson, editor of Custom PC magazine, stated that companies felt obligedthink up new names and certain of thosemight sooner or laterarrive in our daily speech.

"Some names areonlythought up for advertising reasons, while others are chosen so users can relate to the meaning.

"One way of connectingaccessories to a Mac was usinga connection called FireWire. On a Sony it is called i.LINK and it's also called Lynx by Texas Instruments, although they are identical. That doesn’t make anything easy for the customer.
Many people do not understand the difference between analogue and digital TV

"Even when organisations want to attract to average people, it sometimes doesn’t work. Take Wi-Fi - it was named just due to HiFi. Wireless fidelity really doesn’t mean anything, but the other option was 802.11B which hardly trips off the tongue."

Mr Watson said that language almost always evolved in such a way as the term would make more sense.

"It may be called Wi-Fi but most people would say wireless network, which is just what it is," he said.

Computer technology remains the area where most complicated terminology can be found, the more modern the technology, the more varied and confusing words seem to get. Andy Drage owns the advice site www.andystechnologyblog.com which specialises in tablet PCs, the new must have toy to arrive in the world of technology.

“There is so much confusing terminology around that I’d say it prevents people from purchasing products that could really help them. I think businesses and sites often use terms to confuse the customer into buying a product they might never use, and to avoid their own ignorance”

“Tablet PCs are so practical but the whole field is so confusing, many people still use more traditional computer technology which is sometimes slower and far less practical for what they need”

Andy’s site offers a complementary 10 part email course on smart phones and tablet PCs which has been written in plain English and produced to clear up some of the mysterious jargon and identify what we ought to really look for with these machines.





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