He made his comment with what he thought was clear sarcasm.  The statement was clearly not to be taken seriously, at least in his own mind.  He thought it ridiculous.  Surely, no one else in the room agreed with it.  But as he looked around, the looks on people’s faces ranged from blank to aghast.  There was no knowing recognition or small smiles to agree with the sentiment.  An earnest young woman looked into his eyes and said, “Well, I thought it was interesting.”  She was prepared to crouch and entrench to defend her position from this surprise attack that he had launched.  “No, no.  I thought it was interesting, too;  I was being sarcastic.”  This only further muddied the waters.  “I thought it was totally interesting.”  A little too much force.  She didn’t know which part he had been sarcastic about so she stuck with her original understanding and dug in deeper.  He couldn’t think straight.  How could he explain his point now?  He had lost all credibility to be taken at face value.  Everything he now said was suspect, untrustworthy.  What else would he take back, what further verbal rugs would he pull from under his listeners?  He walked out of the room, befuddled about how to communicate.  The moment was ruined.  Two minutes later it dawned on him how to explain himself in plain English.  Alas, too late.  He was always too late.