Does understanding someone's intentions imply that one has understood that person's meaning? Consider the following brief exchange:

1. Jean: Can you tell me the time?

2. Dale: It's half past three.

The goal of Jean's question seems transparent, and Dale responds appropriately by providing Jean with the desired information. Although Jean and Dale must assume a good deal about each other in saying what they do (e.g., Jean must have some idea that Dale is able to provide the information, and Dale must assume that Jean needs only the approximate time), the ability to recognize the intentions in what the other says appears to be a fundamental part of understanding his or her meaning.

But consider now the following segments of dialogue between a woman patient (P) and her surgeon (S) soon after the woman has undergone a mastectomy. The conversation focuses on P's concern that her own illness might be treated as her late sister's cancer was several years earlier.

1. (P): Well, it's just that I watched this with my sister, and I hate the idea of chasing it all over my body because she ended up dying anyway.

2. (S): Well, June, I don't know whether you're going to end up dying of this “anyway” anyway.

3. (P): Yeah.

4. (S):[…]