Nathan,
As a wise person once said, there is no such thing as a dumb question.
To be "long" means that you have bought something and you own it. For example, you bought stocks or you bought an index like the S&P (SPY).
To be "short" means that you have sold something that you don't own with the expectation that it will go down so that you can buy it back at a lower price and pocket the difference in profits. Somewhere on this forum, in one of these threads, I went into some detail about the mechanics of selling short.
Nathan, I know financial language can be downright wierd. So if you ever see a word, term, or concept that you don't understand try
Investor Words. It's an online financial dictionary and it has a definition of just about any financial term that I or anyone else might use.
Also, always feel free to ask on this forum. I or someone else will be very happy to help.
Larry