What's nuts to me is how often I hear people complain that that can't figure out how to quit out of nano when those exact instructions are always visible at the bottom of the screen.
But you have to know that the "^" sign means "hold ctrl".
When you first open nano, it tells you at the bottom of the screen that you can press "Ctrl+G" for help. The second paragraph of the help text explains the '^' notation, and the help further explains that you could have accessed the help page by pressing F1, which has been a common key for accessing the help feature of whatever program you're using for decades.
These are people who prefer vim, and are perfectly fine with the :q magic.