buying subwoofer, speaker terminology?

No, it means you could use any amp you want to use UP TO 1000 watts per speaker.  What subwoofers are you considering that are rated at 1000 watts continuous?

it seems that other than physical damage to a speaker because of being played past its physical limits, most, and i say most because not all, but most damage to a voice coil is caused due to distortion from the amp which happens most of the time when it runs out of headroom. i have seen tons of woofers that were destroyed by guys with little cheap amps rated at much less than the woofer who thought they would just turn up the gains and the resulting distortion caused a failure. i always thought that if your amp was rated with more power that the driver just turn down the gain on the amp and adjust the amp as needed and you still have plenty of clean power without reaching the end of the amps headroom. meaning clearer sound and less damaging distortion. after all its not like your gonna(well, at least not me) turn things up until they are maxed out. i always thought of it like having a Ferrari that can easily go 160mph but you can only drive it half that speed because of the road you are on at that moment. or a 18 foot colapseable ladder to get on your 15 foot roof. ive always followed this rule and it has never let me down yet all these years and quite a few serious home audio enthusiasts I know use this school of thought as well. my question to all of you out there who know(because apparently i dont), is this wrong thinking? have I been thinking wrong all these years?

The difference is if you know what you're doing or not.  My answer to the OP was based on dispelling the myth that you must use an amplifier that matches the continuous rating of your speakers.  You do not have to do that, and you are safest if you choose an amp rated less than your speaker's maxes and then set it up properly so it does not clip.

Distortion by itself does not harm speakers.  Only too much power harms speakers.  Heat is the enemy of loudspeaker voice coils.  The reason some people blow their speakers with under-rated amps is because once the amp goes into clipping, it is difficult to know how much power it will deliver to the voice coil and often it will exceed their thermal rating.  It is easier to overdrive small amplifiers because people  often want more than they can produce.  Using a small amp is fine as long as it is set up correctly and the user does not overdrive it.  Once you know what it sounds like, it is fairly easy to hear when an amp clips and turn the volume down.

In speakers with small voice coils like tweeters, high frequency distortion is bad but again not because of the distortion itself, because of the very high power levels that can be behind that distortion, and which you may not be able to hear.  Using larger amplifiers allows you to drive the speaker to its max levels without fear of over driving the amp into clipping.  But again, it's all about knowing what you're doing, as if your amp is capable of over driving your speakers within it's normal operating range, you can fry a voice coil and never know there was any issue because you would never hear any clipping.

Depending on the application and the user, using larger amps than a loudspeaker's rating is a good thing because it give you head room - you can operate at the max levels of the speakers with room to go on the amp, and the amp is not likely to clip during transients.  But it is also normal to use amps that are rated at less than the loudspeaker's ratings in order to protect the speaker from thermal damage.  It's all about knowing what you're doing, and choosing the right tools for the right task.