Responses will be sought legitimately

Looky looky: another example of a misheard phrase, the perpetrators evidently never having seen the correct form in writing.

From the District of Columbia's Office of Planning:



From a workshop handout for "experienced educators":



From a junior high school newsletter (!):



From the bio of a college professor (!!):



From (oh, you'll love this) the site of a professional copywriter:



And finally, my favorite, if only because the woman looks as though she has an illicit response in mind:



Copyeditor General's ruling: Homophones can be tricky beasts, it's true. But at the same time, shouldn't context be a clue? The above examples suggest not only that the writers aren't aware of the correct word but also that they don't understand the meaning of "illicit." Or perhaps they do know what it means, but somehow assume it takes on an entirely different meaning in this situation. Either way, they're wrong.

Wrong wrong wrong.

Could I possibly be more explicit?