Wow, that's way to confusing. And your instructors sound snobby, too.
My spin instructor is an Ironwoman and she keeps it pretty simple. There are all levels in my class (and the bikes all have different settings), so she yells out resistance in percentages.
(i.e. "Bring your resistance to 40%... Advanced people raise it to 55-60%... Beginners, lower it enough to keep up your cadence!)

She also takes the time to get to know new people during warm-up, to gauge their level. When she found out I was in triathlon, for instance, she'll yell out one set of instructions to the class and sometimes different ones for me (i.e. yelling out HR zones, etc).

As for the new guy, maybe it's just that he's just new. Perhaps you can take him aside and "suggest" a few helpful hints privately, someplace where a challenge to his ego is not so publicly displayed. I know, I know...