A personal anecdote about symbolism: When I first came to Cambridge I took one of those little tours they had in Harvard Yard, and when we came to Memorial Hall, the guide said - What do you think this is? And someone (or a couple of people) answered - a church. The guide said - This is not a church, but it really looks like a church doesn't it? That's because it was designed to be a church...
I accepted that, but the fact was I didn't think it looked like a church. Perhaps that's because I didn't come from a place where churches looked like that. But this remained in my mind, that Memorial Hall looks like a church, so when I was working some days this past summer in the information station and people came to ask where is Memorial Hall, I would direct them and say "it is that building across the street that looks like a church", and they all get it straight away. So, I bought into a symbolism I only just learnt... It works, and it was useful for giving directions.
End of anecdote.
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