-ee

[Tone]

I still maintain that "usee" is valid. My pharmacist knew precisely what I meant when I used it. (Only his assistant queried it.)
I was speaking of both the administrator of some treatment and the administratee thereof.

Tone

[Twoddle]

Jun 28, 2008 20:29:35 GMT Tone said:

I still maintain that "usee" is valid. My pharmacist knew precisely what I meant when I used it. (Only his assistant queried it.)
I was speaking of both the administrator of some treatment and the administratee thereof.

Tone

Now you've got the tablets, Tone, keep taking them.

[Dave M]

> it reminds me of mentor/mentee. But, again, I think mentee is made up. <

Yes, indeed. We have to remember that "Mentor" is the name of the bloke, from whom we get the verb "to mentor" (NOT "to ment"!). A "mentor" is not one who ments, but one who takes the role known by the name of the original, Mentor.

The one who gets mentored should therefore be a mentoree, not mentee.

[SusanB]

Dave M,
I don't disagree with what you say at all. Nevertheless, I'm (very almost) sure that I have seen 'mentee'. I quickly google-scholar-searched, and found that there are certainly people using the word in their research publications!
Susan.

[Dave M]

Oh, yes, Susan - I've met "mentee" in many courses that I've attended. (And insisted on the change, every time ;D )

[Dave M]

I see that the Wikipedia puts it neatly:

The student of a mentor is called a protégé or mentoree. More accurately, for the recondite, the protégé would be called the telemachus (pl. telemachuses or telemaches). Sometimes, the protégé is also called a mentee. The -or ending of the original name Mentor does not have the meaning of "the one who does something", as in other English words such as contractor or actor. The derivation of mentee from mentor is therefore an example of backformation (cf. employer and employee).

[SusanB]

That's interesting. So everybody is right?

[Pete]

Jul 1, 2008 16:26:19 GMT SusanB said:

That's interesting. So everybody is right?

Well, no. I think I was wrong, because I would have said that a mentor is one who ments, which shows how little I know!

[Pete]

I have just heard the pairing of sponsor / sponsee used in Dexter (series 2, in case it matters).

[Alan Palmer]

In case there's anyone like me who's never heard of Dexter, I suspect this is what is referred to: Dexter (TV series).

Since it appears to emanate from the USA, the strange use of English is not really surprising.

[Pete]

Although the character who says those words is actually English (played by Jaime Murray).

[Twoddle]

Aug 20, 2008 13:52:23 GMT Pete said:

Although the character who says those words is actually English (played by Jaime Murray).

But who wrote her line?

[Pete]

Aug 20, 2008 16:58:05 GMT Twoddle said:

Aug 20, 2008 13:52:23 GMT Pete said:

Although the character who says those words is actually English (played by Jaime Murray).

But who wrote her line?

Almost certainly an American, of course. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_(TV_series) tells us that it's based on a book.

[rickcarpenter]

Jun 28, 2008 17:57:24 GMT Paul Doherty said:

Exceptions may be made for amusing posts!

Count me as an amusee!

[Tone]

If a killer kills someone, is the dead one a killee?

And, if a printer prints something, is the paper or the subject printed thereon the printee?

Tone