just deserts

[Becca Mills]

Every few months I discover a gap in my knowledge of writing and language. It's always sort of embarrassing and sort of exciting at the same time: exciting because it's cool to learn something new, embarrassing because I then know I've been doing something wrong over and over. Here's my latest: one doesn't get one's "just desserts," which is what I've always thought it was. Rather, one gets one's "just deserts." But it's pronounced like "desSERTS," the sweets, not "DEserts," the dry places. Apparently it's an archaic word derived from "deserve" -- your deserts are the things you deserve.

Here's where I discovered this fun fact: afterdeadline.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/close-but-not-quite/?_r=0

New to you, or am I the only one who didn't know this??

[Suzy]

Yes, I knew it was 'deserts' as in something you deserve.

[ameliasmith]

It's one of those things that I think I might have heard before, but the image of deserts, with whipped cream on top, keeps jumping into my head anyway.

[lindymoone]

I knew it was "deserts". But I didn't know until I was over 40. It was a let-down. Much like learning that "they" as a singular pronoun has a long past, and that it was used by many of the classic writers.

(Ah, that Jane Austen. I always liked them.)

[Miss Terri Novelle]

I knew it was deserts, but if I was ever to open a restaurant, it would be called Just Desserts and that's what I would serve. Not that I have any plans to do that...but maybe I'll use it in a book.

[lou]

I've eaten at "Just Desserts." I think maybe two, even. (One in SF, one in Toronto? Something like that.)

I probably knew this and forgot, Becca. As I get older, the list of "things I forgot" grows and grows like...

...uh...some simile I've forgotten.

[sheilawrites]

I learned it long ago, but like Lou, my memory ain't what she used to be. Now I'm paranoid I used the phrase improperly somewhere. lol

[Becca Mills]

Heh, heh, heh ... I'm sure I've written it incorrectly several dozen times in the past. Quite the eggcorn. I'd better search my books for the phrase, come to think of it! <blush>

[Becca Mills]

It's funny ... I remember a teacher explaining decades ago that the way to distinguish "desert" from "desserts" was to keep in mind that "dessert" has an extra "s" because it's so Sweet. That would've been the perfect time to drop the "just deserts" bomb, but she never mentioned it. Grrr.

[Deleted]

I knew this one, but I've said the "Gig is up" instead of the "jig is up." I, of course, felt mortified. I've done stuff like this all over the place. Mortification everywhere you look.

But you know what they say about learning: No time like the president.

Cheers

[Becca Mills]

I was in a meeting a few days ago where someone actually said "for all intensive purposes." Made me feel a little better.

[lou]

My favorite I've ever heard (friend of a friend, so I actually did not hear it in person) was someone who came out of a work meeting and said his boss had just "raped him over the coals." Which is really an improvement on the original, because, wow. That's bad.

[Miss Terri Novelle]

Gives new meaning to the idea of roasting weenies, doesn't it?

[Becca Mills]

Aug 21, 2016 9:48:16 GMT -5 lou said:

My favorite I've ever heard (friend of a friend, so I actually did not hear it in person) was someone who came out of a work meeting and said his boss had just "raped him over the coals." Which is really an improvement on the original, because, wow. That's bad.

Wow! Now that's an evocative metaphor.