Re: Git terminology: remote, add, track, stage, etc.

Also, in the user-manual.txt:

Examining branches from a remote repository
-------------------------------------------

The "master" branch that was created at the time you cloned is a copy
of the HEAD in the repository that you cloned from.  That repository
may also have had other branches, though, and your local repository
keeps branches that track each of those remote branches, which you
can view using the "-r" option to linkgit:git-branch[1]:

------------------------------------------------
$ git branch -r
  origin/HEAD
  origin/html
  origin/maint
  origin/man
  origin/master
  origin/next
  origin/pu
  origin/todo
------------------------------------------------

You cannot check out these remote-tracking branches, but you can
examine them on a branch of your own, just as you would a tag:

That’s just wrong, isn’t it? You absolutely can check out a remote-tracking branch.