BENIGHTED

I used the word "benighted" in a recent posting in a chat room and a person wrote that a word meaning to make someone a knight was hardly the correct word to use!

I did not attack the person but merely responded with the definition of "benighted". I was attacked left and right (in reality, I think most of the people from this site are from the RIGHT!) and was accused by one of using "$3.00 words".

When I confronted a man about posting lies about another person, he responded that he'd heard the stuff from other people. I responded that he should not use second-hand information and used a quote from Churchill: "They say so is half a lie," and he answered that Churchill meant the use of "heresay". When I responded with, "Did you mean HEARSAY or HERESY?", I was met with ad hominem comments! Yes, I did know that the man meant "HEARSAY" rather than his misspelled "HERESAY", but I didn't appreciate his implying that I did not know the meaning of the quote!

OK, I was petty! Benighted people bring out the worst in me!

be·night·ed
adjective
1. in a state of pitiful or contemptible intellectual or moral ignorance, typically owing to a lack of opportunity.
"they saw themselves as bringers of culture to poor benighted peoples"