It's like deriving and then acting upon several layers worth of meta-information from very mundane things. People would take the bit that was said (or not said)

It's like deriving and then acting upon several layers worth of meta-information from very mundane things. People would take the bit that was said (or not said), build some story around that, possibly derive a second story from the first and then go out and attack you based on that. Nothing is taken on face value.