r/ENGLISH • u/Ashamed-Designer4920 • 1d ago

Oddly specific

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9 Upvotes

70% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

12

u/lermontovtaman 1d ago

Originally referred to someone who was literally caught in the dark: the dark of night had crept up on you before you reach your destination.

Then it was used metaphorically , and I think it was taken up by polemicists arguing religion in the Elizabethan and Jacobean era.  

2

u/muenchener2 1d ago

Originally referred to someone who was literally caught in the dark

Still does in a mountaineering context

13

u/archer613 1d ago

benighted is a perfectly cromulent word.

5

u/atticus2132000 1d ago

It embiggens your vocabulary.

1

u/FeijoaCowboy 20h ago

And makes you sound more photosynthesis!

7

u/norbertmars 1d ago

I've always loved the insult "Benighted bog trotters"

2

u/Key_Impress_3129 1d ago

I might've heard it in the Episcopalian service back when we used the 1928 prayer book, which was derived from that used in the 16th century? People raised Episcopalian in the 60's learned all kind of weird words; I remember seeing "vouchsafe" on the SAT and recognized it immediately.

2

u/Mat_Cauthons_Hat_ 18h ago

It’s not in the Book of Common Prayer but it’s used in a lot of Episcopalian hymns in both The Hymnal 1940 and The Hymnal 1982.

1

u/Key_Impress_3129 7h ago

We poor benighted sinners thank you for the correction.

1

u/TheUnspeakableh 1d ago

It's the source of the idiom "stuck in the dark about [blank]."

Which means you are ignorant of the topic.

1

u/joined_under_duress 22h ago

It's not very specific since it can be moral or intellectual ignorance that can be pitiful or contemptible.

1

u/everstranger1212 1d ago

Never heard this word in my life

18

u/PerfectEnthusiasm2 1d ago

you were benighted until now.

0

u/SlewBrew 1d ago

A word Moira Rose would use.