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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”?
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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