You’ve seen it. Maybe on a cryptic TikTok of a girl staring at a lime, or under a 1,000-word Substack post about the collapse of the middle class. "But what does it mean?" It's the internet’s favorite shrug. Sometimes it’s a genuine plea for help. Other times, it’s a cynical jab at art that feels too high-brow for its own good.
Meaning is slippery.
We live in an era of information overload where we have all the facts but zero context. You can look up the chemical composition of a star in four seconds, but that doesn't tell you why looking at the night sky makes you feel like a tiny, insignificant speck of dust. That gap—the space between "this happened" and "this matters"—is where the phrase but what does it mean lives. It’s a cry for semiotics in a world that’s obsessed with data points.
The Double Life of a Viral Phrase
In the digital world, the question functions as a bridge. Honestly, most of us are just trying to keep up with the breakneck speed of meme culture. Take the "Skibidi Toilet" phenomenon or the "Ohio" memes from a few years back. If you weren't an Alpha-gen middle schooler, you were left staring at your screen asking the literal question: but what does it mean? In that context, you aren't looking for a philosophical breakthrough. You just want to know why everyone is laughing at a head in a toilet so you don't feel like a dinosaur at the dinner table.
But then there’s the deeper layer.
Art critics like Peter Schjeldahl or Jerry Saltz have spent decades trying to answer this for the "high-brow" crowd. When a banana is taped to a wall at Art Basel and sells for six figures, the world screams the keyword in unison. Is it a commentary on consumerism? Is it a prank on the wealthy? Or is it just a banana? The tension comes from the fact that "meaning" isn't a fixed object you can find under a rug. It’s a collaborative project between the person who made the thing and the person looking at it.
Why our brains are obsessed with "The Why"
Human beings are wired for narrative. We are literally "meaning-making machines," as many psychologists put it. Our brains take random sensory input—colors, sounds, smells—and try to weave them into a story that keeps us safe. If you see a lion, your brain doesn't just record "large yellow cat." It assigns meaning: "danger."
When we encounter something that doesn't fit into our existing boxes, we feel a physical sense of "cognitive dissonance." It’s uncomfortable. It’s that itchy feeling in the back of your skull when a movie ending is too ambiguous or a friend sends a text that just says "We need to talk." You're stuck in the but what does it mean loop. Your brain is trying to resolve the tension. It wants the "The End" slide to feel earned.
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Semiotics: The Science of What Things Mean
If you want to get nerdy about it—and we should—you have to look at semiotics. This is the study of signs and symbols. Ferdinand de Saussure, a Swiss linguist, basically broke it down into two parts: the "signifier" (the physical form, like the word "apple") and the "signified" (the concept of the crunchy red fruit).
The problem today? The signifiers are everywhere, but the signifieds are drifting away.
Think about the "Like" button. Originally, it meant "I like this." Now? It can mean "I read this," "I acknowledge your sadness," "I am bookmarking this for later," or "I am passive-aggressively letting you know I saw your post but won't comment." When someone asks but what does it mean regarding a social media interaction, they are performing a micro-analysis of modern semiotics. They are trying to decode the subtext.
The Death of the Author
There’s a famous essay by Roland Barthes called "The Death of the Author." His whole vibe was that the creator’s intent doesn't actually matter once the work is out in the world. If a director says their movie is about grief, but you watch it and think it's about the beauty of industrial plumbing, you aren't "wrong."
Your interpretation is the meaning.
This is a radical idea. It takes the power away from the "expert" and gives it to you. But it also makes people nervous. We want there to be a "correct" answer. We want to know what the author meant so we can check it against our own notes. When we ask the big question, we’re often looking for permission to feel what we’re already feeling.
When Content Creators Use Uncertainty as a Weapon
Let’s talk about "Engagement Bait."
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TikTokers and YouTubers have figured out that if they make something slightly confusing, people will flood the comments. The most common comment? You guessed it.
By being intentionally vague—maybe leaving a weird object in the background of a video or ending a story on a cliffhanger—they force the audience to engage. The algorithm sees thousands of people arguing over the meaning and thinks, "Wow, this must be important!" It then pushes the video to a million more people. In this economy, but what does it mean is a literal currency. Confusion generates cash.
The "Double Rainbow" Legacy
Remember the Double Rainbow guy? Paul "Hungry Bear" Vasquez. His 2010 video was just him sobbing at a weather phenomenon. He kept yelling, "What does this mean?!" It was raw. It was earnest. It wasn't engagement bait; it was a man having a spiritual experience in Yosemite.
That video went viral because it captured a universal human truth: sometimes the world is so beautiful or strange that we can't process it. We need a label. We need a reason. We need to know that the beauty isn't just a random refraction of light, but a sign that things are going to be okay.
How to Find Meaning Without Losing Your Mind
So, how do you actually answer this when you’re staring at a confusing piece of news or a weird DM? You have to look at the "Three Contexts."
- The Historical Context: What was happening in the world when this was created? (e.g., A dark, moody song released in 2020 probably hits different than one released in 1998).
- The Personal Context: What are you bringing to the table? If you just went through a breakup, every song is about a breakup.
- The Structural Context: How is it put together? Does the music speed up? Does the writer use short, punchy sentences?
When you combine these, you stop asking but what does it mean as a victim of confusion and start asking it as an investigator. You realize that meaning isn't something you find—it’s something you build.
The Trap of Over-Analysis
Sometimes, the answer is "nothing."
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There’s a thing called "apophenia." It’s the human tendency to see patterns in random data. It’s why people see Jesus in a piece of toast or think a celebrity’s hand gesture is a secret signal to the Illuminati. Sometimes, the blue curtains in a book are just blue because the author liked the color blue.
If you spend your whole life obsessed with the hidden meaning, you might miss the thing itself. The texture of the fabric. The sound of the voice. The actual "is-ness" of the moment.
Actionable Steps for Navigating Meaning
Instead of getting paralyzed by ambiguity, try these specific tactics next time you're confused.
- Audit the Source: If you see a confusing headline, don't just ask what it means. Ask who wrote it and why they want you to feel confused. Often, the meaning is just "Click this so we get ad revenue."
- Sit with the Discomfort: Don't rush to the comments section or Google immediately. Let the weirdness sit in your brain for five minutes. What is your gut reaction? That initial "vibe" is usually the most honest meaning you'll get.
- Check the Subtext, Not Just the Text: In conversations, look at body language and tone. If someone says "I'm fine," the literal meaning is "I am okay." The actual meaning is often "I am definitely not okay, but I don't want to talk to you about it right now."
- Use the "So What?" Test: If you find the "meaning" of a piece of art or a news story, ask: "So what?" If the meaning doesn't change how you think or act, it might just be intellectual noise. Focus on the meanings that actually shift your perspective.
Meaning is a tool, not a destination. It’s the way we map a world that is fundamentally chaotic and indifferent to us. When we ask but what does it mean, we are really asking, "How do I fit this into my life?"
Keep asking the question, but don't be afraid if the answer changes tomorrow. That’s just how growth works. You aren't looking for a static definition; you're looking for a way to live.
Next Steps for Better Interpretation
To get better at decoding the world around you, start by diversifying your "meaning-making" toolkit. Read one long-form essay a week from a perspective you disagree with to see how they assign meaning to the same facts you see. Practice "active looking" by spending ten minutes staring at a single painting or photograph without checking your phone. Finally, keep a "meaning log" for a week—jot down three things you found confusing and what you eventually decided they meant. You'll start to see patterns in your own biases that you never noticed before.