[csallen]

The meaning of a message is what is intended + communicated, assuming those intentions were communicated clearly.

Willfully interpreting otherwise (especially uncharitably so) is the very definition of being disingenuous, which is pretending to not know what was really meant.

[polotics]

I disagree: if a message is open to such disingenuous interpretations, then its meaning has not been formulated clearly enough. I use the: (1) say what you will communicate, (2) communicate, (3) say what you have communicated rule, also the six W's...

[csallen]

No one communicates that way. It's not practical. Almost all expressions can be uncharitably interpreted by a listener who doesn't like you, and thus has a motive to quote your sentences and disingenuously pretend you're saying something much more dastardly than you clearly intended.