If it feels like slippery plastic it is shine-lamination (fuck me if I know an English term for that), if it is slightly abrasive it is matte, it must be laminated from both sides of the paper tho - it will bend the paper if it is laminated only from one side.
GSM - again, most probably I just dont know this term in English.
Spot vs full colour - spot colour is a specific ink that has been produced according to pantone formulas (some specific ingredients in it) and there are pantone flabellums out there too that help you get the exact colour you want - you cant trust your monitor. Full colour refers to 4-ink printing (CMYK). The main difference is that when you have like upmost 3 spot inks/colours troughout your brochure it will be cheaper than 4 - ink/colour printing because each colour must be first represented on a laser - wooshwoosh - manufactured plate and that is actually the majority of the printing costs in small runs.
Check out this subforum thread "what to look out for" and in showcase emils last thread where I wrote some stuff, cant be bothered to dig it out tho.
Hope I can beat Cocky this time!