On the “mentee” thread, some commenters suggested that “protege” was an adequate substitute for “mentee.” Others pointed out that “protege” tends to have a different meaning (a protege gets patronage and support, while mentees tend to just get advice). But one wrote:
Instead of creating a new word to represent someone who is receiving guidance under a mentor as a ‘mentee’, couldn’t someone (not certain of who is responsible for adding/changing definitions to the official dictionaries) simply add an additional definition to the word protege to allow for further meaning?
I so much hope that this is just a very subtle parody of prescriptivism, rather than a serious suggestion.