Q:

Can we change the term "close" to something more friendly?

I have been told many times "close is not a permanent state, it's just where questions go to be either editted/reopened or else deleted".
However the dictionary says: "to bring to an end", "to conclude".
Well, why use the word "close" to mean something it doesn't in our language?
Wouldn't a more gentle term such as "pause" and "unpause" be better for the QA experience?
This question has been closed pending edits.
This question has been paused pending edits.  <-- I like that one.

A:

Even though the conversation on MSO was started by programmers in the context of Stack Overflow, the arguments (both pro and con) are still relevant to other sites. 
We are not going to be changing the wording on individual sites. If nothing else, there's consistency of experience across the network to consider. 
That said, we have recently updated the descriptions of various close reasons to emphasize that closed questions can and should be improved through editing whenever possible.
You can use the existing tools - commenting, editing, upvoting, voting to reopen - to teach new users who happened to have their question closed how Stack Exchange works and how to recover from or prevent a closure. If you feel a new user is being intimidated by their question being closed, lend them a hand and make the necessary edits for them. :)

