Quick answer
Poverty pleads and wealth barks: the poor man must ask softly because he has no leverage, and the rich man can answer roughly because he has never needed anyone's patience.
Read both lines
The verse holds the microphone close: the careful, softened language of someone who cannot afford to offend, and the brusqueness of a man whose position absorbs the cost of his rudeness. No explicit sentence is passed, but the observation lands inside a book whose Author has chosen sides: he who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker (14:31). Heard there, the rough answer is not neutral data; it is a man mistaking his cushion for a character. The verse hands every reader a private test: your tone toward people who can do nothing for you is the honest measurement of you.
Related: Proverbs 14:31 · Proverbs 22:7 · James 2:2–6
New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. Full copyright information. Scripture provided by API.Bible.
Go Deeper
If this verse has been used to put weight on you that it was never carrying, ask about it directly.