Question: To refer to the beneficiary or patient of an action, sometimes one can form a word using the verb and the *-ee* suffix, e.g. 

* assign → *assignee*
* employ → *employee*
* refuge → *refugee*

On the other hand, some forms like *givee* (the beneficiary), *killee* (the victim) or *massagee* (the one massaged) sound inherently stupid. I guess there probably are other *-ee* nouns that are at least that bad, but which I would unfortunately miss because of my poor English and wild imagination. Are there any usage rules or common-sense methods that would help me to distinguish between the proper, understandable words and the rest?

Any help or some references to on-line sources would be greatly appreciated.

Answer: 
The suffix *-ee* comes from the French past participle suffix *-é(e)*. There is a relatively short list of [English words ending with -ee](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:English_words_suffixed_with_-ee), the vast majority of which are French or Latin in origin. I suppose *killee* and *givee* sound wrong because they’re of Anglo-Saxon origin, not Romantic, so the *-ee* suffix is less natural.

In general, I would avoid using *-ee* to coin new words, and further avoid using *-ee* words other than the most common, such as *employee*, *attendee*, *detainee*, &c. The silliest-sounding *-ee* words seem to be those using native English roots, where *-ed* is better:

> 
> \*The mugger mugs the muggee.
> 
> 
> The mugger mugs the mugged.
> 
> 
>
Unfortunately English tends to be a little bit random in the way rules such as this one are followed, partly as it often tends to be based on the etymology of the word - i.e. the language that the word has been borrowed from.

That said, you could get away with adding "ee" and "er" to pretty much any verb and the person hearing it, if given enough context, would be able to understand you. For instance, there is a [memorable exchange](http://www.friendscafe.org/scripts/s5/514.php) in the TV sitcom Friends:

Monica: Oh man, they think they are so slick messing with us! But see they don't know that we know that they know! So…

Chandler: Ahh yes, the messers become the messees

"Messer" meaning people who mess and "Messee" meaning people who are messed

Neither of these words are in general use, but the language works because enough context is given (the verb "mess" had been used in the previous line"), the character is known as a comedian and the words themselves are emphasised when spoken.

However, for anyone who is not themselves thoroughly fluent in English my advice would be simple: only use this construction if you have heard or seen the specific word used multiple times elsewhere. Otherwise you may end sounding awkward or pretentious.