Do you know what mucus membranes of the oral cavity are ?

Members of the Plain English Campaign (PEC) say the public's understanding of the workings of the EC is hampered because official documents are littered with bewildering jargon and invented terms.

The European Parliament: documents are translated into the languages of all members

Few people other than Brussels bureaucrats would guess that grain-eating units are sheep and that intermodal transport systems are bus timetables, they say.

The UK Prime Minister Tony Blair made plainer English a target of the UK's current presidency of the EU.

And in a bid to press the message home PEC campaigners will deliver a speech to EC translators on Wednesday stressing the need to use simple and understandable language.

Chrissie Maher of the PEC said she hoped Mr Blair's interest would lead to "crystal-clear English" being used in future EU paperwork.

However, James Barr of the European Foundation believes some problems are inevitable and that they are likely to get worse as EC expands to include more countries.