Today’s Word Nerd pair actually makes it into print every so often, usually with amusing results for those of us who notice. This is a case where using the wrong word can really change the meaning of a sentence.
elicit
to evoke or draw out (a response, answer, or fact) from someone in reaction to one’s own actions or questions.
illicit
not legally permitted or authorized; unlicensed; unlawful; disapproved of or forbidden for moral or ethical reasons.
Elicit originates in the 1640s, from Latin elicitus, meaning “draw forth,” (from ex- “out” and -licere, “to entice, lure, deceive”). It’s related to laqueus “noose, snare,” which is where we get the word lace.
Illicit is older, appearing around 1500. It comes from the Old French illicite “unlawful, forbidden,” which comes from the Latin illicitus “not allowed, unlawful, illegal,” (from in- “not, opposite of” and licitus “lawful”).
If you refer to elicit guns, you’re saying you want somebody to give you one.
If you say you want to illicit a response, you’re saying you want to talk dirty to somebody.
Jim MacQuarrie
When he's not arming children for the zombie apocalypse or coaching the USC Trojan Archery team, Jim is writing about "all the stuff that would have gotten you a wedgie in 1976" at AtomicJunkShop.com and serving as the President of CAPS, the Comic Art Professional Society. His kids are all grown up, and his wife is patiently waiting for him to do likewise.
Please put your semi-colons (as well as question marks, exclamation points, and colons) to the right of the closing quotation mark unless they’re actually part of the quoted material. Only commas and periods belong inside the quotation mark all the time, and that’s only in the U.S. I don’t normally comment on this except when it’s a Skitt’s Law violation (i.e., on grammar posts 😉 ). For that matter, I also notice you put a period way inside a parenthesis when it belongs on the outside.
Your illicit punctuation has elicited this response. 😀