What does it mean when someone says you're "taking things out of context"?

Answer 1

it means you don't understand the point they're trying to make because you're interpreting what they say differently than what they mean

Answer 2

Taking things out of context means that someone has used someone else's words or actions to describe a different scene. Um...that is probably not a great answer, so I'll try to give an example. Say you're sitting around a campfire, and someone says "I love fires". If you later tell someone else that the person said that they love fires (without adding the info that it was around a campfire), it may be interpreted as this person is an arsonist.

Answer 3

It's when someone uses a phrase out of a larger phrase to justify something which is incorrect. For example people sometimes say 'take an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth' as a Biblical quotation to justify talking revenge when in fact Christ said 'Ye have heard it said tak an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth bit I say to ye if a man shall strike thee on thy right cheek then turn the other cheek towards him and let him strike that also.' So taking the small re phrase is actually taking what Christ said out of context since he did not advocate revenge at all.

Answer 4

It means you are making a decision/argument based on part of what is said/done without looking at the whole situation.

For example, you see someone in front of you hitting someone else ..... and call the police.

This is perfectly OK in most cases BUT it would be being taken out of context if the two fighters were in a boxing ring.

Answer 5

If you take one small part of something, and use it as if it were representative of the whole, you’re taking it out of context. Usually this is applied to conversations –someone hears a few words of a conversation, and misunderstands because what they heard is out of the context of the whole conversation.
Or it can refer to quoting some sort of literature, when you use a small portion of something to try to define the author’s intent or the meaning of it without understanding the context, what is said around it.

Answer 6

It can mean interpreting words without regard for the words around them...

for example, 'quoting' someone as saying "Abortions are lawful", when their full sentence was "The claim that abortions are lawful is still to be proven"

...or it could mean interpreting words without regard for the situation and circumstances under which they were said...

for example, quoting a professor stating that native americans were violent savages, without including the fact that he was explaining the 16th century european view.

Answer 7

Words or phrases can mean slightly or completely different things, depending on the context.

So to "take things out of context" means to take a word or phrase and interpret it, apply it, or even twist it to have a different meaning than the original spoken or written intent.

1. The example of the Bible.
The other answer provided an excellent example. You cannot take the Old and New Testament "out of context" but should interpret these together in historical context -- the Old Testament depicts the history of war, corruption, genocide and death by living by the "letter of the law" and "retributive justice" (so it is a warning NOT to live that way); while the New Testament presents the difference in living by the "spirit of the law (truth and love)" and "restorative justice" (instead of unforgiveness, hatred or revenge). So the point is not to be stuck in the old ways, but to see why it causes suffering to live under material greed, and to seek liberation from that.

a. "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" -- by the old ways of justice, people used to wipe out a whole family as revenge for killing one person. So the original meaning of this law was to "limit" the compensation to "one-for-one," to be fair. So this law was originally intended to avoid excess revenge, and to make things more just.
b. "turn the other cheek" -- in the old days, slapping someone on the left cheek implied a backhanded slap for a slave or noncitizen. So the meaning of asking to be slapped on the "right cheek" is to insist that if someone is going to correct or rebuke you, at least address you as an "equal" as a citizen or peer. So this does not mean act as a "doormat" and let people walk on you. It means to bring humility by respecting people as equals, that we rebuke and correct each other on equal ground, for the purpose of reconciliation or "restorative" justice, not for revenge or "retributive justice" and not for tolerating abuse either.

[The other answer makes this point, but did not explain the full history behind these two quotations used from the Bible.]

2. A more recent example (concerning 9/11):
One man who heard the airplane that hit the Pentagon stated clearly it was an airplane but it "sounded like a missile."

This quotation was taken "out of context" where it is abused in propaganda as "proof" that it was NOT an airplane (as the witness actually testified that it was) but was a missile!

I understand this man is "devastated" that his words have been taken out of context to mean the opposite of what he witnessed. He said it was an airplane, but because he metaphorically compared the frightening sound to a missile, now people are twisting his words to spread conspiracy theories that a missile hit the Pentagon.

Answer 8

it means taking part of a phrase instead of the whole thing and making it say something different than it is supposed to say

Answer 9

Whenever I ask a question, even if it is the easiest one, they can't give me a good informed answer on this site. Wtf happened to people who really take the time to answer??

Answer 10

very interesting question