Terminology - certificate or key ?

[Robert J. Hansen]

> I was reading the FAQ and noticed that it uses the word 'certificate' to
> describe what I think people commonly refer to as their 'key' (ref
> gnupg-faq.html section 7.4 and 7.5) that they would upload to a 'key
> server'.

"Certificate" is the correct word, but "key" has historically also been
used and has a tremendous amount of inertia behind it.

A certificate contains one or more keys as well as supporting metadata,
like user IDs, signatures, and so on.