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Subtexts are all around us. In conversation, business transactions, politics, literature, philosophy, and even love, the art of expressing more than what is explicitly said allows us to live and move in the world. But rarely do we reflect on this subterranean dimension of communication. Words don't just say what they say, and often we can understand (as listeners) and convey (as speakers) more, or something else entirely, than what is expressly said. Every day, we send out double-meaning messages and decipher those sent to us by others, without even taking notice. Greco-Roman rhetoric provides invaluable theoretical tools for thinking about this phenomenon, notably with the rhetorical notion of “figured speech”. History offers striking examples of the use of innuendo in ancient and modern political contexts. In personal and public life, veiled speech has many functions, including diplomatic, poetic, humorous and polemical. It also raises difficulties, as it carries the risk of misunderstanding. Criteria can therefore be proposed to remedy uncertainty and guarantee interpretation.