If I ping 192.168.1.4, why is 192.168.1.2 responding?

When I run the command ping 192.168.1.4 I get the following results:

Pinging 192.168.1.4 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.2: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.1.2: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.1.2: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.1.2: Destination host unreachable.

Can anyone help me understand why in the world it's telling me that 192.168.1.2 is unreachable when that's not the IP address I typed in? I'm very confused.

Also in case it's relevant, I'm on a workgroup.

192.168.1.2 should be your ip, not the destination host. If the destination host is unreachable, it can not send you a reply (obviously), so the reply comes from your own machine.

This is because on the same subnet, ping sends an ARP request to get the MAC-Adress corresponding to the IP. if this cant be resolved, you get this message. If you ping a machine on another subnet, you get a time out message, because ping sends an ARP request to get the Gateway of the subnet, which should complete fine. But then the actual pinging times out

192.168.1.2 is some computer along the way, directly connected with your pc, telling you it cannot complete its task.

For instance, supposed your pc is cable-linked to another pc, which should be connected via wifi to a network, but the wifi connection dropped for any reason. Then the pc you are connect to do will send exactly the reply you have received.

Like Hercules' pillars, it is saying, nec plus ultra, i.e. no further than here. It means 192.168.1.2 has a connectivity problem.