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Originally Posted by Bill
But there must be a third choice, something besides misunderstanding and meaninglessness. It's the only pragmatic option.
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That's right - the third choice is the pragmatic one. Let me draw from science: the description of an atom's nucleus and electrons being like a mini solar system was a misunderstanding (sometimes knowingly so). Use of the simile helped us ask further questions and come up with new similes that revealed the old ones as suggestive but meaningless. Meanwhile, a new vocabulary of theories was invented which we used to make even better similes. But we know they're not "right", that they're a provisional rather than accurate description. And on we go.