Benighted

Why I chose this username

This is a celebratory post, for reaching 50 stories on Medium.

It will also serve as an “About Me” post, but not quite. Maybe I’ll write an actual “About Me” post when I reach another milestone. Or, maybe not. We’ll see.

Natalie asked me about my username, in the comment section of her article and I thought about sharing the information in a proper post.

According to the definition of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “benighted” means: - overtaken by darkness or night - existing in a state of intellectual, moral, or social darkness

I came across the word “benighted” in a poem of W. B. Yeats (“My House”) about 13 years ago, and I immediately resonated with it after looking up its meaning.

I use it as a username ever since partly because I like the night and darkness so much. I’m sure you must have figured it out by now if you read my poems.

I also use it because the word can also be used for someone who is uninformed/lacking in knowledge. I take it sort of like the quote “I know that I know nothing”. There’s always something new to learn, so I identify with it.

Moreover, sometimes I live in a state of “social darkness”, and I can say that I enjoy some “moral darkness” from time to time.

Natalie thought that the word “knighted” must have something to do with it too. And, that’s true!

As a child I wanted to be a knight, because they had armor and they got to protect things and people that mattered. I also identified a lot with characters like Eowyn from the Lord of the Rings, who was skilled in fight and had her own armor. I identified with Eowyn for several other reasons, but I’ll leave that for another time.

In case you have missed the information, I identify as a non-binary person (in English I use they/them pronouns). Being assigned female at birth though, meant that I was forced to conform to gender roles and my dysphoria was through the roof. I have written a little bit about it in my poem “The Wires”. Wanting to become a knight and be strong like Eowyn were two things that kept me going despite the dysphoria.

Also, in case you don’t know this by now, I am Greek.

“B” is the first letter of my actual name when written using the Greek alphabet. I like having a username that has the same first letter as my name.

Therefore, “Benighted” as a username is an amalgamation of all these things I like.