Jeez, I have just had about 12 interactions with someone who is so passive I honestly had no idea what he was hinting at...he could have asked me a straightforward question, which I would be happy to answer, but instead, he just beat around the bush until there was nothing left but my tattered patience.
As much as a line of people have coached me to speak differently, more quietly or passively over the years, so that I could pass for having some social grace... those passives, believing their passivity to be a social grace, could stand to be 90 percent more straightforward, then they will find themselves with all the answers, and anything else they seek.