So if I write a C compiler in [insert slowest language you can think of here] then C programs compiled with that compiler would be no faster than [insert slowest language you can think of here]? Sorry, no, that isn't the way it works.

This reminds me of a study I'd read about a few years ago that found that children fell into two different groups based on their behavior when playing with building blocks:

1. build something and then preserve it
2. build something, wait a while, destroy it, and repeat

I suspect that your experience has nothing to do with how specialized the pieces were, but rather the fact that your boyfriend's 8-year-old falls into the first camp: once something is built it is preserved. An interesting experiment would be to get her some building blocks or some basic (unspecialized) Lego bricks and see what she does with them. Does she build one thing and then try to preserve it, or does she tear it down after a little while to build something new?