[_emacsomancer_]

> and I'm not sure how to even start explaining what's happening when I punch in commands.

Though perhaps not trivial, it seems easier than, say, explaining what you're doing when you fix/manipulate things on a car engine.

The terminal uses a form of language to give commands, and the result is the execution of the command and/or some sort of printed output.

`ls -lah` could be explained as 'a fast way of inputting' the equivalent of "Alexa, tell me in detail what files are in this directory". (Yes, you would have to explain something basic about files and directories, but that still seems reasonable.)

[saagarjha]

FWIW, I’ve given this talk to people unfamiliar to the terminal and they’ve been able to get the gist of how basic things work in under an hour.

[beenBoutIT]

That's because finding people unfamiliar with the terminal that are willing to spend an entire hour in front of a terminal learning how to use it is the hard part.

[_emacsomancer_]

My original suggestion was envisioned as a 3–5 minute explanation.