What did he say?

I was listening to the radio and I heard a commercial about investments and the financial market and they guy said that something was breaking out faster than Michael Phelps. I thought, that's a really cruel thing to say about someone's acne. It took me a minute, but I realized they must have meant breaking out in a race. Who are these people who can't see the way something they say could be taken? You can put lipstick on a pig, but... well, let me stop there so as not to be taken the wrong way.