Why Whisper?

You know what really churns my nerves? When you try to whisper and tell someone a secret in the middle of a respectable crowd and they respond with "Huh?!" or "What?!" in a generally loud volume so that everyone's attention in the room is now caught and drawn toward our supposed-to-be secret conversation. To my understanding, the purpose of whispering is to reveal a semi-important, or humorous, piece of information DISCREETLY to another individual. This situation has definitely occurred with me way more than it should. However, I do admit that I am partially responsible for these happenings. Where my mistake is made is when I assume that other people automatically know the meaning of the oh so useful whisper, but obviously not. My assumptions have led to some embarrassing moments along with some minor scoldings in terms of the everyday classroom. If the "responder" is just going to blurt out a loud, unnecessary question as a response, what is the point of trying to whisper? I just do not understand the thinking process of certain people when they are whispered to. "Oh hey, why is he talking so softly in this completely quiet room? Is he scared to speak up? Is he really that self-conscious? Here, I know how to break him out of his shell...HUH...WHAT?!" It's ridiculous! So people, here's the definition for whisper. Click on the link and I want to stress the word PRIVATELY in the definition. Thank you!