Apprise me of the Appraisal
Recently,
I’ve been pigging out on reruns of The Artful Detective, a detective series set
in 19th century Toronto. In one episode, Detective Murdoch is
sternly admonished by the Superintendent to “keep me appraised of developments." Unfortunately, bad word choice.
To appraise is to examine something in order to give
an estimate of its value. It is a calculation of its worth or quality, often before
selling it or putting it up for auction. It tracks back to the Anglo-French
appraiser. In turn that came from
the Latin a-/ad- plus presser, to prize.
To apprise is to impart knowledge or information to someone. It may involve formal
notification or an informal passing on of information. Apprise comes from the French
appris, the past participle of apprendre, to learn.
Listen to Mike’s program in real
time every Tuesday morning, 9:10 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com
and clicking on Listen Now. You’ll
also find about a month’s worth of podcasts there under The Ron Jolly Show.
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