It feels like in the past, people didn't talk this much or twist what was said so often. This youmeantowaysay rages stormily on Facebook and even appears in Latvian mass media. Has this youmeantowaysay form of conversation really appeared as an import from the films we watch, much like the nasally rising intonation at the end of a sentence most favoured by officials who have studied abroad? I am genuinely starting to feel like the exile Latvians of old, who, upon returning from across the pond, noticed changes in the way their compatriots speak.

Youmeantowaysay creates a sea of misunderstanding that is impossible to wade through. Perhaps I am being pedantic, but these 'You mean to say…' phrases are mostly used by women. I will dare to make an assumption, but it is known that men generally speak more directly. If they say it is getting cold, that is what they mean. If a woman remarks that it will rain soon, she means that one should look for an umbrella, that she doesn't have a warm jacket, or that one should add wood to the fireplace. I don't know why, but jokes about translating women's language come to mind.

Perhaps youmeantowaysay is a diplomatic technique? To say what ought to be intuited. A method of manipulators. Perhaps because this form allows one to manoeuvre, it is flourishing with such fierce intensity. Even the reflections of gardeners can be twisted by youmeantowaysay so severely that it is quite something. (...)