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They may know intuitively what a browser is, but they don't always know it as a "browser". When I did public-facing tech support, I found I encountered much less confusion when I told people to "pull up Google" or "go to Yahoo" versus "start your browser".

Doing tech support work interacting with the generally computer non-literate is like civil service for the tech world. It's not pleasant but it expands your perspective, and many HN readers would do well to go through it.

I wish you were right, but sadly I don't believe it. My crappy anecdotal evidence is that less than 50% of my non-dev friends know what a browser is. They generally use the default browser that comes with their system (Safari or IE), and they call it "The Internet".

A stronger counter-claim would have included non-anecdotal data.

I think you may have hit reply on the wrong link. I did not include any data or anecdotes. Maybe you meant to reply to the parent "a stronger claim would have included any supporting data"?

From 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4MwTvtyrUQ