This is because git is a tool to interact with the git tree, not the mental models you've built on top of it or imported from other tools. Git checkout coverin

This is because git is a tool to interact with the git tree, not the mental models you've built on top of it or imported from other tools. Git checkout covering multiple usecases makes sense to me, I've never thought, hey this is used for all these different things they should be separate. I think, hey, this tool is always checking out a hash and a path. The fact that can be a branch or a commit is entirely inconsequential. If it irks you it's because you think there is a difference between a branch and a commit then you're likely lacking some fundamental understanding about git.