Was. You are right the first go. You get a smaller field of view (FOV).
Think: f=200mm lens gives x size image, no matter what, full-frame, crop frame. It is still the same size image.
When it lands on a smaller sensor (crop sensor), it gives a reduced FOV. The edges are missing.
OK, so some people say, "OOOOHH! It's like having a longer focal length." You can say, "Well, not quite."
On the "dumb question" topic, well, unfortunately you're wrong there