Did I miss that memo?

[Geoff McGeachin]

Has anyone else noticed that people have stopped opining? Journalists, bloggers, authors and other users of the written word have been opining all over the place for the last couple of years but now… not so much. Writers however, are suddenly getting roiled to an alarming degree. Did I miss the memo that opining was out and roiling was in? And did I actually just use ‘but now…not so much.’

[Karen from AustCrime]

I would just like to go on record as saying I only roil during cider season (which coincidentally it is now) and only then when I'm trying to ruffle the temperament of the cider maker (aka the husband).

Opining on the other hand never goes out of fashion around here. We opine loud and long on most subjects.

It just that after too much cider you can't type the opinion down.

Well you can but it just doesn't make much sense.

[I. J. Parker]

What, precisely, is the difference between "roiling" and "opining"?

[Karen from AustCrime]

Webster Dictionary says opine is - To have an opinion; to judge; to think; to suppose. Whereas roil is - To disturb, as the temper; to ruffle the temper of; to rouse the passion of resentment in; to perplex. [1913 Webster]

(There's another option to roil which tickled my fancy as the partner of the cidermaker )

[I. J. Parker]

Well, thanks. My question was a bit tongue-in-cheek. There is a fine line between expressing an opinion and becoming passionate about an issue.

[Judy Nichols]

Maybe the novelty has worn off. When I first starting blogging four years ago, I managed to find something to sound off about every day. Now the option of posting my opinion for the entire world to see has become commonplace. Plus, with about 17 hits a day, most of the entire world is not at all interested in what I have to say.

Judy Nichols
www.judy5ents.com

[Mari Sloan]

I had a friend once who was a certified paranoid schizophrenic, a diagnosed one, with meds. He hardly ever took his meds because he wasn't suppose to take them and drink, so he was paranoid a good bit of the time.

"They're watching me," he would tell me. "Look away!"

"Why would they be watching you?" I would ask him. It's not the "if" but "why?"

Opining is sorta like that. Why someone would look my opine up to read? Writing is like that a lot. If my friend forgot to wear his pants, he wasn't paranoid. It takes a heck of a creative opine to bring someone back. Of course, all this is roiling me a bit.

He used get roiled when I'd ask him "Why?"