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I don't use submarine in my daily work. But submarine is also not a metaphorical word, it's a literal one - sub (below) marine (the sea). One could argue that

I don't use submarine in my daily work. But submarine is also not a metaphorical word, it's a literal one - sub (below) marine (the sea). One could argue that it's an insufficiently specific literal term, and that the word "vessel" should be added afterwards, I suppose. But it doesn't really matter because it's not the same error of form that Allowlist and whitelist have.

Chris2048 4y ago
sub in this context means literally, physically below (or "inside" can also could for the sea, given in English this is the idiom) - but it can also mean small, lesser, or diminutive - it is far from unambiguous. Marine can mean the sea, but also things associated with the sea. Nearly all words are somewhat metaphorical, idiomatic - we just learn what those idioms are.