The people who know the most usually say “it depends” a lot. Simple answers are often missing something.

Hedging sounds like evasion when it is often precision. Somebody who has spent years in a field has met the exceptions, so they know which conditions change the answer and will not pretend those conditions are absent. Confident simple answers are much easier to listen to, and they quietly leave out the parts that would have mattered in your particular case.

When you get a flat answer to a complicated question, ask what it depends on. If the person cannot say, treat the answer as rough. When you are the unsure one, saying so costs less than being wrong.