Edgar: doublets, bifrasismos, difrasismos

[ANTHONY APPLEYARD]

 --- Geoff Davis <mixcoatl at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>... Here are two common examples:
> in atl in tlachinolli - "water and fire" - war
> in xochitl in cuicatl - "flower and song" - poetry

Andrews's book translates difrasismos as e.g. "It is a flower and it is
a song".

In "it is water and it is fire" used to mean "it is war", I know that
war all too often involves setting buildings on fire, but where does
water come into it? Does it refer to war canoes? Or does the phrase
refer to water and fire being incompatible "elements"?

Citlalyani