short block is generally bare block, cam, valves, and pistons only. Long block is everything but the manifolds generally so head, valve cover, timing covers, water inlet/outlet, studs, i think flywheel housing hence the price difference.
yea alot of mechanically minded people go for the shortblock as you can bolt the rest of the pieces on yourself and torque the head but cant do the proper line boring, babbit replacing, cyl boring/honing, valve lapping/fitting at home.
Then the long block is for people who want to drop in a ready to go engine, bolt the manifolds and carb up, connect water hoses and start it.
Generally the shortblock/longblock terminology is the same for any rebuilt engine. More modern OHV short block engines it doesn't include the head so its just block and pistons.