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A question from my wife (who is a teacher): Since the name of Telemachus' tutor has passed into a wider use and has gained currency as the verb form, to mentor (not with an r, guys  ), there has grown up an exceedingly ugly back-formation for the subject of these attentions. Is mentee permissable under any circumstances?
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>not with an r
but we really need to know: is there a 'mentorate'?
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is there a 'mentorate'?
Surely not? Mentors do it for free!
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To use a derivative like "mentee" is to pop the lid off Pandora's Box and loose all manner of unfortunate "words" on an unsuspecting world. If mentor is used as a noun meaning wise counselor or guide, it soon becomes a verb meaning "to teach, to instruct, to direct." If nouns which end in -er or -or are facilely turned into indirect objects -- e.g. lessor/lessee, condemner/condemnee -- then it is a short step from "mentor" to "mentee."
Once the lid is off, one must make expect and accomodate the absurd constructions which will follow:
mentoration -- the act of guiding or teaching
mentorially -- in the style of a guide or teacher
enmentorment -- guiding or teaching
polymentoricity -- having many guides or teachers
mentorrhoea -- too many guides or teachers all talking at once.
Don't let this happen to a language you love.
Father Steve
(who posts only 1.375 times per day, on average)
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Not to forget the real pain of mentoring: dysmentorrhea.
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Mentors do it for free!
True! But is one who teaches mountain climbing a tormentor?
Ooh, tsuwm - you are surely not implying the foul calumny that we Brits might ever have a tendency to adulterate suffixes, are you?
And yes, I agree with you, Father - this way madness lies! Pandoramonium? I guess this is where my (doubtless arbitary) sense of euphony is my own guide - hate the sound of mentee, hate it with a passion. Actually, the more I think about the parallel words and others like legatee, the more I think I hate them all! Maybe I am merely a handicapee in this respect.
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>tsuwm - you are surely not implying the foul calumny that we Brits might ever have a tendency to adulterate suffixes, are you?
hey! don't mention adultery to an OP!!
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>Actually, the more I think about the parallel words and others like legatee, the more I think I hate them all!
Mav:
Words like this are what my wife, a recovering attorney, calls state of the art words. They come mainly from Latin, with a smattering of Anglo Saxon, and are used for very specific legal concepts.
One example is the pair words alienor and alienee. These are, respectively, the person who transfer property and the person to whom the property is transferred. Neither of these are terms you will use in your everyday conversations :)
Illustration:
A fellow I know rented a house from a very nice couple. Unfortunately, two months after he signed the three-year lease, the couple separated. During the ensuing very bitter battle, both of them are trying to collect the rent from him. There have been court battles, he has had credit problems, he's getting ulcers. Truly, another situation where one must confront the evil of two lessors.
My wife has eschewed the practice of law to raise a family, but is now going back to work as a customer service representative for a medium-sized mutual fund company here in Denver. Before leaving the legal profession, though, she left her mark. When she lived in Baltimore, she bought a condo right on the harbor. Weeks after the purchase was completed, Baltimore began a very large project to rehabilitate the waterfront area.
Peggy found the construction din at night so horrendous that she couldn't sleep. To no avail, she tried to get the construction limited to daylight hours. So she filled a class action. Yes, MY wife wrote what is now known widely in legal circles as Port Noise Complaint.
TEd
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>One example is the pair words alienor and alienee
But don’t these words bear too much resemblance to alienate. It seems to me that the legal profession always tries to create a language that is not subject to misinterpretation, which is why there is sooooo much excess word baggage in most legal documents.
Oh, and tell you wife not to fret. I have a pal who is referred to as the "Westmount Square Breastfeeder Bylaw" instigator. I have seen her being stopped on the street with "aren't you that woman who refused to breastfeed her baby in the bathroom?" And it is amazing. You can tell which side of the debate they were on by the way they pronounce THAT.
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