"the religious rite"

[Jonathan Lighter]

We've had "mentees" around here for at least ten years, with the stress on "tee."

  JL

Dave Hause <dwhause at JOBE.NET> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Dave Hause
Subject: Re: "the religious rite"
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Alcoholics Anonymous influence? After the new person an older member
sponsors being called a "sponsee" - implying the verb "spons."
Dave Hause
----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles Doyle"
To:
...
Here's one of my least favorite back-formations: Each faculty member in my
department is assigned to be the "mentor" for a designated handful of
undergraduates, who are referred to (by departmental administrators) as the
faculty member's "mentees"--as if there exists a verb "to ment."

--Charlie

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