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Ah, I love the origins of words. I never studied Latin or Greek in school, but I like how you can see their influences in our modern vocabulary, and can use them to guess how certain words should be spelled.
Once one reaches a certain level of vocabulary, one naturally picks up a sort of etymological intuition. It's quite useful.
And, believe it or not, I did not have this particular conversation in mind when I first gave Jamie his name. It just sort of worked out this way.
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0109-------------------------------------
(Monday. INT: apartment, JH is still playing with Pinball)
JH: Admit it. You feel good, adopting an animal in need.
EB: Okay, yeah, I've got a little charity endorphin rush going. This was a benevolent thing to do.
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JH: Benevolent, eh?
EB: Yeah. Benevolent, benign, beneficial... all those adjectives beginning with the Latin prefix for "good", they all apply.
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JH: Ben is "good", huh? Does that mean my name is "Good-Jamin"?
EB: If you were a Benedict, maybe, but "Benjamin" is Hebrew. The "Ben" there means "son of", like the "bin" in "bin Laden". Your name means "son of my right hand".
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JH: Wait, you mean to tell me my whole life, I've been a left-handed man telling everyone to call me "Righty"?
EB: Hey, read your Genesis. It could have been worse.
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