what does it mean to be “meta” about something?

Question

The title. I never understood that expression… can someone help?

Edit: auto correct on ‘someone’

In: 1694

Answer 1

Meta comes from Greek and means Beyond (or after). Beyond is it’s usual use today. So if something is meta it has to either be beyond the normal scope of something (like Metaphysics or the Metaverse) or have another level of meaning ‘beyond’ the obvious. Like the joke version of Douglas Hofstadter’s autobiography

I’m
So

Meta
Even
This
Autobiography

That’s the basis of most uses of the word currently.