Don't know your dongle from your cookie?

You are not alone.

A company called the Gadget Helpline has done a survey of more than 5,000 people and found that many of us find tech words confusing.

Of course I don't mean us. Clearly anyone reading this post has every bit of technobabble fully defined, filed away and ready to use at the drop of a hat.

No, I mean them - the great British public.

These are the top ten confusing terms:

dongle cookie wap phone jack (Nokia) navi key time shifting digital TV Ethernet PC Suite desktop

It is an ecclectic mix, and as I have to admit to having gleaned this story from the BBC and can’t find an actual press release at the Gadget Helpline’s Web site I can’t tell you anything about how the research sample was put together.

Could it be a subset of the people paying £2.99 a month for the privilege of phoning the Gadget Helpline for help with their gadgets? I was under the impression that everyone in the world (OK, everyone I know), phoned me for that.

Note to self: must start charging.