Comment by lmm

Why can't there be an equivalent of stash that keeps track of which parts were added and which weren't?

If switching branches wouldn't conflict with my current change, why do I have to stash/checkout/unstash instead of just doing it?

Why can't I pull without fetching?

Why will none of the 5 or so push configurations just do "push the current branch to the branch of the same name on the remote"?

Why is there no way to stop git from setting master as the upstream every time I do git checkout -b myfeature origin/master?

Why do I have to detach from a branch before deleting it?

None of this stuff is inherent to the problem or due to being a precise model of things; quite the opposite.