1 in 10 Americans believe HTML is an STD: study

One in ten Americans believe that HTML is a sexually transmitted disease, while 23 per cent think an MP3 is a 'Star Wars' robot, according to a new study.

In a study of 2,392 American men and women, all of whom were 18 years of age or older, 11 per cent said that HyperText Markup Language (HTML) - a language that is used to create websites - is an STD.

Fifteen per cent said "software" is a comfortable type of clothing and 12 per cent said 'USB' is the acronym for a European country.

Around 77 per cent of respondents could not identify what SEO means. SEO stands for 'Search-Engine Optimisation'.
 

Twenty-seven per cent in the study said "gigabyte" was a South American insect, 'Los Angeles Times' reported.

A gigabyte is a measurement unit for the storage capacity of an electronic device.

The study conducted by Vouchercloud.Net, a coupons website, found that 23 per cent Americans thought an MP3, which is actually an audio file, was a "Star Wars" robot.

Also, 42 per cent said they believed a "motherboard" was "the deck of a cruise ship." A motherboard is a circuit board that holds many of the key components of a computer.

Blu-ray, a disc format typically used to store high-definition videos, was identified by 18 per cent as a marine animal.

Two per cent of the respondents said that a 'tablet computer' is a computer that reminds people about tablet medication and when to take it.

Sixty-one per cent of the respondents also said it is important to have a good knowledge of technology in this day and age.

The study presented respondents with a list of technology related terms, as well as non-technology related terms; and asked them to select from a choice of three possible definitions what best defined the word they had been shown.

Respondents were unaware that the study was specifically looking at knowledge of technology hence a mix of both normal and technology related words were used.