Learning enough Linux to understand Linux

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I have been trying to convert to Linux for a couple of years now. It is an on and off thing because of other interruptions in my life. Now that I have retired I can perhaps devote larger blocks of time to it. My problem is that I have not yet achieved "critical mass" of Linux jargon to understand explanations of how to do things. Every time I have a question and seek help, the answer comes back in Linux Jargon and there are a few critical terms I cannot understand. Seeking to understand them subjects me to yet more jargon.

I have several different books and understand a little out of all of them. But I cannot seem to find any book that has an index where I can look up a topic (e.g. how to download and install a driver for a modem) or if it has something that sounds like it is close, it is so jargonized that only a Linux Geek would understand the instructions.

I have loaded and dabbled with several versions: Centos, SuSe ( 64 bit) Ubuntu, Redhat, Fedora (32 & 64 bit). I really was turned off by Ubuntu when I found that I had to go to their website to get the procedure to enter terminal mode as root.

I do a little command line linux and manage a linux based server for our church. I insist on having at least a significant command line Linux capability as I don't want to be dependent on some one gui interface for understanding what I am doing.

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What I Need
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-- Some source that answers Linux questions with an absolute minimum of jargon
-- Some way to understand the structure of Linux so I have a framework to fit the bits and pieces into as I acquire them. (this is a learning style issue for me because I have to have an overview before I can make sense of the pieces in any topic. I have a rotten rote memory but an excellent structured memory which is apparently one of my AS quirks)

-- A good written reference that meets the two criteria above would be an excellent aid.
-- Another good aid would be a glossary of linux terms in which no explanation is dependant on more than a minimum set of jargon, and then has that minimum set of jargon defined without jargon.

Any guidance from those more Linux Adept will be appreciated.

It's not a precise answer to your query but I've turned to FreeBSD in part because I found Linux somewhat chaotic and FreeBSD seemed more cleanly organized in many ways. It's standard manual is excellent and covers the topics you are most likely to need. Even if you do not use FreeBSD it's manual might just give some good starters.

Go with Ubuntu. So you can't log in as root? That's a design decision! Put sudo in front of any command you run and you're gold. (It asks you your password then runs the command as root)
> sudo chown root:root filename
password:

Ubuntu has a wiki and ubuntuforums.com. It's great!

This I found recently. I've used linux for awhile, and I still think it's useful. (just remember that it's all really lowercase)
Linux Filesystem Structure Sheet

I understand the BSD thing. I think it boils down to the fact that BSD only has a few major distros (free,net,open,etc) as compared to the hundreds of linux ones. Less distros = less ways to do the same thing. I started with BSD, but I find that linux is a larger community and more used so therefore it is actually better.

I have to say that google is your friend as far as documentation goes:
http://www.google.com/linux

Good luck, and have fun!