> Honest question, what's the difference between 'appear' and 'apparently' to you?
They have similar etymologies, but their current meanings are diverging. An apparent difference may not be visual -- at least, not to the degree that an examination of the word's history would lead one to believe. An appearance of difference still is primarily visual.
And yes -- this is to some degree splitting hairs.
You know, this might just be my personal reading of these words. When I hear "apparent" I don't necessarily think of its connection with the visual, I think "evident", in spite of the etymological connection with the visual Latin root. But to me, "appear" cries out for a visual interpretation, much more so than for "apparent".
Again, I think this may be splitting hairs -- I might be making too much of this.
