APAD: Duly Noted

Meaning:

    Something has been properly acknowledged and taken into account.

 

Background:

 

   The word `duly' is an adverb that is formed from the root word `due' and it

   comes from the Old French word `deu', meaning `owed' or `fitting'. So, when

   something is done duly, it's expected, and it's considered proper or right.

   Something that is duly given can also be said to be owed.

 

   When something is noted, it is acknowledged and taken into account. So, when

   someone responds to something with the phrase `duly noted' they are saying

   that they know you expect them to take into account what has been said, and

   they are confirming to you that it has been done.

 

   The phrase is often said with neutrality, however, it can also be used

   sarcastically to imply that the speaker doesn't care about what has just been

   said.

 

   The precise origin of the term is yet to be identified, however I can confirm

   that it has been in use since at least the early 1800s.

 

   The phrase is still in use today, and most often appears in legal documents

   and court proceedings, but you will also see it in books, and in TV and film

   as well as in business meetings and everyday conversion.

 

- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]

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In Doc Martin (S5E2) where Ruth, Doc's ageing aunt, was visiting Port Wenn for

her sister's funeral and staying at Crab and Lobster, the village pub. The

barman noticed the scarlet blot on her napkin after she wiped her mouth and

asked if she was OK.

    

    "It's nothing" she said.

    

    "Couldn't hurt to pop up and see your nephew, get it checked out."

    

    "Good advice, duly noted" she summarily consented and the pub keeper was

    just as duly dismissed.

 

 

A psychiatrist, she did her research and self-diagnosed secondary systemic

lupus. Months passed since she had convinced herself that she was dying and had

accepted it. The least she needed now, she felt, was advice from some officious

layman doing her a favor by telling her what she ought to do.