Huh?

Excuse me?
Kya re?

mera dil tere pe fida re!

'Huh?'
'Excuse me?'
' I'm sorry I didn't get you'
'What?'
'Could you please repeat that?'

These are words commonly used when one .... Aha my point exactly.

When exactly? Is it just when one didn't hear properly what the other person said? Or when one didn't "understand" what the other person said? Of course there's an evident difference between the two, but the thing to notice is what effect it has on the sayer. Will the sayer interpret it as just a request to exactly repeat what he said or will he assume that the listener didn't "understand" what he said and try to explain either in more detail or by using different words?

I have personally encountered this at work especially and I find it amusing :)

When I inadvertently end up saying 'huh?' instead of 'uh could you please repeat what you said just now?' or something emphasizing my lack of hearing, the sayer assumes that I didn't understand what he/she said and ends up explaining a concept I only know too well (in some cases). And if the concept in question was a simple one in terms of understandability, you will be given a tone/look which implies 'sche! This also needs to be explained to you?!' ; even though all ur fault was (maybe), was to not listen properly.

In a reverse psychology situation, I have also seen cases where the sayer assumes that he/she was dumb enough not to have communicated/explained properly. You say 'what did you say?' and they take it as 'Oh my God could you be any more incomprehensible?!' :D

I have been in both roles, the sayer and the listener...I keep telling myself not to underestimate people's knowledge/understanding capabilities and not to assume :)

I keep telling myself not to end posts abruptly...But the thing is most posts