the term 'firemen' is the best example of everyone intuitively understanding symbolism. they arent "fire men": they oppose fire. theyre antifiremen or really, "water men". yet "anti" sounds negative and fire has a more fitting set of signifiers than water, so we call them firemen
"fire" has the set of symbolic signifiers that we associate with the so called fire man. it is powerful, moves swiftly, has a connotation of imminent danger, its masculine, whereas water has a set of signifiers that would be totally inappropriate - its calm, cool, and nourishing.
in a sense this is all abstract and supraphysical, yet we all intuitively understand this because thats how we're hardwired (semiotic universe), so even though they bring water and deal in water we named them after the thing they actually oppose, theyre obviously "fire men".
you can say, well "duh", but when this cross-wiring of the connotation and the physical reality isnt present, we dont name things like this. itd be like calling a doctor a "sicknessman", a police officer a "crimeman", we do this with firemen instinctively because of the symbolism
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