Interview data and experimental results show that (ING) impacts social perception variably, inhabiting an indexfield of related meanings (Eckert, Penelope. 2008. Variation and the index field. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12(4):453-476). One of these meanings, intelligence/education, is explored in detail to understand how a given meaning is realized or not in a specific context. Speakers were heard as less educated/intelligent when they used -in, but this effect is driven by reactions to speakers heard as a regional and not as working-class. Some implications on our future understanding of the processing of socially laden variation are discussed.