The answer to the question answer to the question"What does "modal" really mean?" is really another question, which is: "Why do you want to know?"--if the answer what Jack said above:
" if you want to do something with the tune beyond simply playing it exactly the same way you got it on exactly the same instrument. " Then there may be an answer that has some meaning--

However, if the person asking the question just heard the word used and didn't understand the context, then the answer is, "it all depends on the context."