most english prefixes have a single, unchanging meaning (more or less, don't @ me about "inflammable"). anti-blah is always in opposition to blah. pre-blah is always before blah.
the "girl" suffix is an outlier. the "girl" in "girlboss" (assertive, independent) has little in common with the "girl" in "girldinner" (hasty, improper), which has little in common with the girl in "girlfriend" (partner who is a woman). the "girl" prefix is exceedingly useful for creating new distinguished categories, but unlike other prefixes, it has no fixed meaning. i therefore propose we use the "girl" prefix to distinguish words with competing definitions:
- a "roguelike" is no longer "a game like rogue". to refer to these "traditional" or "old school" roguelikes, we can use the term "girlroguelike".
- the kudzu-like spread of US english has corrupted "truck" to mean "ute caricature". what the brits call a "lorry", the rest of us should call a "girltruck".
- one of computer chips, poker chips, potato chips (hot), potato chips (cold), or golf chips will become "girlchips".
