 What someone implicates is not given to us directly. We have to infer it from evidence. We would typically infer in  (1)  that Barb meant she is not going from what she said, what Alan asked, and our assumption that Barb was responding to Alan’s question. An implicature can be characterized as an inference (“something inferred”), but implicating is not itself inferring. To implicate something is to express a belief in a particular way. To infer something is to acquire or possess a belief in a particular way. Hearers have to infer what speakers implicate. This is not what makes implicating an indirect speech act. Implicature is indirect because to implicate something is to mean it by saying something else. Even though it requires an inference, our recognition of what is meant is commonly automatic and effortless, whether it is said or implicated. In  (1),  for example, competent speakers will grasp immediately that Barb meant both that she has to work and that she is not going to Paul’s party. All speech acts have to be inferred from contextual evidence, including what was said and what words were uttered. Whether there is any significant difference in the kind of inference required to recognize an implicature is a matter of some debate, and may depend on the type of  implicature.[6]