Words and Meanings

I'm experiencing a bizarre stage of my life in which I have begun to question the meanings and definitions of common words and concepts. What does it mean for something to mean something? What does the word mean mean? And there, I've used the word I'm trying to define in a question asking how to define it. Well, for something to mean something means for something to signify something, right? But what is "signify"? What does it signify for something to signify something? And it is at this point that I usually give up, drink a beer, and watch something nihilistic like Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Then this whole episode ends up being an unsettling metaphor for my entire life. And if a metaphor is an idea that stands for a reality, what does it mean for something to stand for something?!