I'm told that the difference between Torque and Horsepower is a basic fundamental thing that any gear-head should understand.

I have had it explained to me before, but I'm dense or something, and to me, power is power. There's either enough energy to move an object or there isn't. And changing the length of the "lever arm" by altering the gear ratio doesn't change the basic limitation of X energy versus Y mass, it just means you distribute the force over a longer time period. The same amount of net energy is still required.

Can anyone put it into proper layman's terms so that I can understand it?

And while I'm at it...

I've seen the term BHP used frequently, but I've seen conflicting opinions on what it stands for. Does it stand for "Base Horsepower" or "Brake Horsepower"?