How can one differentiate between these two "Girl"? I mean I was not able to understand the sentence first is there any sort of punctuation missing in this sentence?
Just want to clarify my intention is not to offend and these are not my words. I just want to learn.
There is no difference between "the girl" and "the girl". There is a difference between "change" and "change". The first means something like alter or transform. The second means something like trade or replace.
That being said, I find it more natural to mark that difference by changing the number of the direct object. I would phrase that sentiment in this way:
If you can't change the girl, change girls.
Social implication aside, there's nothing wrong with the original sentence. The second sense of "change" doesn't require a plural object. The singular is common enough in phrases like "change the light bulb", despite the fact that there must be at least two bulbs involved in that exchange.
Without context, the original sentence could mean either:
When you can't transform the girl, replace her.
or
When you can't replace the girl, transform her.
Unlike my paraphrasing, there is nothing in the original to show which sense of "change" belongs in each place. The only thing that marks that there are two senses of "change" in that sentence is the contrast between them. There have to be separate senses for one to still be possible while the other is impossible.
I assume that the original means "if you can't transform her, replace her" because there are plenty of fish in the sea but a leopard can't change its spots.
IMO, it means "if you can not change the girl, then you should switch to another girl."
This is not a punctuation problem. This is a play on two different meanings of the verb change. In Wiktionary the meanings are
- (transitive, ergative) To make something into something different. The fairy changed the frog into a prince. I had to change the wording of the ad so it would fit.
- (transitive) To replace. Ask the janitor to come and change the lightbulb. After a brisk walk, I washed up and changed my shirt.
The sentence means, "When you can't make the girl into the kind of girl you want, replace the girl." It's the same girl, different change.
And someone could legitimately be insulted (in my opinion) by being viewed as transformable and/or interchangeable.
