apropos vs by the by

apropos

adj
  • by the way, incidental 

  • Of an appropriate or pertinent nature. 

prep
  • Regarding or concerning. 

adv
  • To the purpose; appropriately. 

  • By the way. 

  • Timely; at a good time. 

by the by

adj
  • Incidental; unplanned. 

prep
  • Used to introduce a new topic; incidentally, by the way. 

How often have the words apropos and by the by occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )