Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2025-05-10
Names illicit racist response, says research
(title of an article in a Purdue University student publication) Maybe the names were illicit?
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“Illicit” for “elicit” is quite a common substitution. Here’s the example I recently encountered in an online discussion:
Those three letters can illicit more emotion, disdain and intrigue than almost any others in Sebastopol’s history.
Occasionally you’ll also find this substitution in the opposite direction, as in:
Thursday night is elicit drug use.
English lesson
I reckon this is just a mildly amusing substitution with no eggcornish meaning-connection.
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