elicit and solicit

[dandelion]

Can they be used interchangeably sometimes?

For example: Before you ask your customer, think about what
and how you will ask to elicit/solicit a positive response.

[Adrian Bailey]

Post by dandelion
Can they be used interchangeably sometimes?
For example: Before you ask your customer, think about what
and how you will ask to elicit/solicit a positive response.

elicit

Adrian

[Purl Gurl]

Post by dandelion
Can they be used interchangeably sometimes?
For example: Before you ask your customer, think about what
and how you will ask to elicit/solicit a positive response.

Less than sometimes. "Infrequently" would be better.

Elicit and solicit have highly different meanings of method.

Elicit is to extract a "thing" from a person, most often,
without benefit to the person.

Solicit is to extract a "thing" from a person, most often,
with benefit to the person.

"We elicit information through threat of imprisonment."

"We solicit information through a generous bribe."

"We elicit truth by being firm but fair."

"We solicit business by making promises to customers."


Purl Gurl

[Alan]

"Purl Gurl" wrote in

Post by Purl Gurl

Post by dandelion
Can they be used interchangeably sometimes?
For example: Before you ask your customer, think about what
and how you will ask to elicit/solicit a positive response.

Less than sometimes. "Infrequently" would be better.
Elicit and solicit have highly different meanings of method.
Elicit is to extract a "thing" from a person, most often,
without benefit to the person.
Solicit is to extract a "thing" from a person, most often,
with benefit to the person.
"We elicit information through threat of imprisonment."
"We solicit information through a generous bribe."
"We elicit truth by being firm but fair."
"We solicit business by making promises to customers."

If you change PG's "infrequently" to "never" regarding the
interchangeability of solicit/elicit, and if you ignore her irrelevant
references to "benefit", PG is kind of close . . . but still no cigar.
To elicit is to draw out or to call forth.
"Our entreaties elicited no response"
To solicit is to directly ask for.
"He solicited contributions for his favorite charity"
Per M-W, a synonym for "elicit" is "educe".
Per M-W, a synonym for "solicit" is "ask".
Perhaps PG will use the words interchangeably (albeit "infrequently"), and
perhaps she uses the words in reference to a "benefit", but she can be
relied on only to explain PG usage, not English usage. Consult any
dictionary for more details.

[CDB]

Post by Alan

Post by dandelion
Can they be used interchangeably sometimes?

[PG tips]

Post by Alan
If you change PG's "infrequently" to "never" regarding the
interchangeability of solicit/elicit, and if you ignore her
irrelevant references to "benefit", PG is kind of close . . . but
still no cigar. To elicit is to draw out or to call forth.
"Our entreaties elicited no response"
To solicit is to directly ask for.
"He solicited contributions for his favorite charity"
Per M-W, a synonym for "elicit" is "educe".
Per M-W, a synonym for "solicit" is "ask".
Perhaps PG will use the words interchangeably (albeit
"infrequently"), and perhaps she uses the words in reference to a
"benefit", but she can be relied on only to explain PG usage, not
English usage. Consult any dictionary for more details.

Consulting a dictionary reveals the interesting fact that the words
are not at all related to each other. From the Online Etymology
Dictionary:

*elicit*: 1624, from L. elicitus, pp. of elicere "draw forth," from
ex- "out" + -licere, comb. form of lacere "to entice."

*solicit*: c.1422, "to disturb, trouble," from M.Fr. soliciter, from
L. solicitare "to disturb, rouse," from sollicitus "agitated," from
sollus "whole, entire" + citus "aroused," pp. of ciere "shake, excite,
set in motion" (see cite). Meaning "to further (business affairs)"
evolved c.1450 from M.Fr. sense of "manage affairs." The sexual sense
(often in ref. to prostitutes) is attested from 1701, probably from a
merger of the business sense and an earlier sense of "to court or beg
the favor of" (a woman), attested from 1591.

*cite*: 1483, from O.Fr. citer "to summon," from L. citare "to cause
to move, arouse, summon, urge, call," freq. of ciere "to move, set in
motion, stir, rouse, call, invite" from PIE base *kei- "to move to and
fro" (cf. Skt. cyavate "stirs himself, goes;" Gk. kinein "to move,"
kinymai "move myself;" Goth. haitan "call, be called;" O.E. hatan
"command, call"). Sense of "calling forth a passage of writing" is
first attested 1535.

I don't know why they derive "solicit" in the modern sense from
"ciere", when "citare" seems closer to the meaning. I wonder if that
meaning was not re-derived for the word by someone who looked at
"citare" around 1591.

[Steve Hayes]

Post by Purl Gurl

Post by dandelion
Can they be used interchangeably sometimes?
For example: Before you ask your customer, think about what
and how you will ask to elicit/solicit a positive response.

Less than sometimes. "Infrequently" would be better.
Elicit and solicit have highly different meanings of method.
Elicit is to extract a "thing" from a person, most often,
without benefit to the person.
Solicit is to extract a "thing" from a person, most often,
with benefit to the person.

Wrong, wrong, wrongity wrong.

To solicit is to ask for, invite or attract.

As Tom Lehrer put it

Don't solicit for your sister, that's not nice
Unless you get a good percentage of her price.

And then there are attorneys who descirbe themselves as "solicitors, notaries
and conveyancers".

[Steve Hayes]

Post by dandelion
Can they be used interchangeably sometimes?
For example: Before you ask your customer, think about what
and how you will ask to elicit/solicit a positive response.

The asking is the soliciting.

The response is what is elicited.

And that reminds me that I once edited an academic text where the writer
consistently used "elicited" when she meant "evinced".

[TakenEvent]

Post by dandelion
Can they be used interchangeably sometimes?
For example: Before you ask your customer, think about what
and how you will ask to elicit/solicit a positive response.

Not interchangeably, as such, though in some cases either could be used in a
sentence without causing the sentence to become nonsensical. The meaning of
the sentence would change, of course, as the words have different meanings.