If you're talking tech with Americans, you may want to avoid using any jargon.

A recent study found many Americans are lost when it comes to tech-related terms, with 11 per cent saying they thought HTML – a language used to create websites – was a sexually transmitted disease.

A screenshot of the HTML of this article page - which is not an STD.

The study was conducted by Vouchercloud.net, a coupons website, as a way to determine how knowledgeable users are when it comes to tech terms.

"Technology is a huge interest for our user base," a company spokeswoman said. "It seems that quite a few of us need to brush up on our tech definitions."