OK. I know that "desert" is a barren location, and that "dessert" is a meal-ending treat. But the phrase "just deserts," I always thought, was yet a third word, spelled like the barren location but pronounced like the treat. But in a recent Wall Street Journal article online (Spitzer's Rise and Fall, March 11, 2008, Page A20) I find find "... getting his just desserts ... ." I hold the WSJ in high regard. Am I wrong in thinking and writing all these many, many years that it is "just deserts" meaning something justly deserved? Isn't it spelled like "desert" but pronounced like "dessert"?
http://www.snopes.com/language/notthink/deserts.asp
According to Snopes, you were right all along, and the WSJ was wrong. I would've been wrong, too. I thought it was "desserts" in the sense of, for instance, a child getting a tasty dessert if he behaves well, but not if he misbehaves. I guess I've either not seen this phrase in writing much, or the sources I was reading got it wrong, too. After all, if even the WSJ got it wrong ...
Glenn Atkinson said:
OK. I know that “desert” is a barren location, and that “dessert” is a meal-ending treat. But the phrase “just deserts,” I always thought, was yet a third word, spelled like the barren location but pronounced like the treat. But in a recent Wall Street Journal article online (Spitzer's Rise and Fall, March 11, 2008, Page A20) I find find “… getting his just desserts … .” I hold the WSJ in high regard. Am I wrong in thinking and writing all these many, many years that it is “just deserts” meaning something justly deserved? Isn't it spelled like “desert” but pronounced like “dessert”?