Normally, Whenever I take an action that involves paying for an effect that is any more complicated than tapping lands, I declare that I'm floating mana.

For instance: When I tap priest of titania with 3 other elves on the battlefield(for a total of 4), than I will typically say "I float 4 mana." before I make any plays and use this mana.

Or even If I'm using llanowar elves to pay for a 1-drop , I declare how I'm floating mana.

There has been a time, where I have been accused of cheating because of this habit.

What happened was I tapped my llanowar elves and said "I float 1 to play quirion ranger", and I was accused of cheating, because "I didn't have 1 floating after that play".

It would seem that the person I was playing against had taken "floating mana" to refer exclusively too mana that was left over after I payed a mana cost.

Have I been doing it wrong all along? has my talk about "floating mana" before I pay costs been a miscommunication hazard all this time?

I'm asking this now, because I have recently came across this passage when reading the comp rules:

106.4a If a player passes priority (see rule 116) while there is mana in his or her mana pool, that player announces what mana is there. If any mana remains in a player’s mana pool after he or she spends mana to pay a cost, that player announces what mana is still there.

Does that mean that talking about my "floating mana" communicates that I'm passing priority?