"his just deserts"

@BAcon: um Wüsten geht's hier nicht ;-)

http://www.snopes.com/language/notthink/deser...

No, in this case you're wrong, mate - sorry, but can't copy from the site linked above ...

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/just-deser...

Meaning

That which is deserved. A reward for what has been done - good or bad.

Origin

Deserts, in the sense of 'things deserved' has been used in English since at least the 13th century. A citation in which it is linked with 'just' comes from 1599, in Warning Faire Women:

"Upon a pillory - that al the world may see, A just desert for such impiety."

With this phrase it isn't the origin that is interesting though, but the spelling. I am often contacted by people pointing out that 'just deserts' is misspelled. They go to great lengths to explain why it should be 'just desserts'. They are wrong, but perhaps understandably so.

desert- Deserts is now almost always used in reference to desolate and arid regions of land. Its use to mean 'that which is deserved' is now largely limited to this single phrase.

- Desserts - the last or sweet course of a meal - is widely used and is pronounced the same way as the deserts in 'just deserts'.

dessertSo, when hearing the phrase with the pronunciation like 'desserts', people think it must be spelled that way too. The spelling might be more intuitive if we thought of the phrase as 'what you justly deserve'.

Most of the correspondence pointing out the 'error' comes from Australia. That may be coincidence, although it could be that, living in a hot, English-speaking country, Australians have more exposure to hearing the word deserts with the stress on 'des' than the rest of us

Read beyond the headline, which they themselves misspelled. :-)

I did - and the last two paragraphs explain the origin ;-)

"The noun "desert" (accent on the first syllable) is generally used to refer to an arid, barren expanse of land; the noun "dessert" (accent on the second syllable) is a sweet course or dish usually served at the end of a meal. However, the word "desert" — when spelled like the former but pronounced like the latter — also refers to a deserved reward or punishment. Therefore, someone who does wrong and is punished in a suitable manner has received his "just deserts."

Many people, unfamiliar with the "reward or punishment" meaning of the word "desert," mistakenly assume that the phrase "just deserts" is properly spelled "just desserts" because of its pronunciation. (The usual reasoning is that a dessert is a type of reward one is given at the end of a meal, so someone who receives suitable rewards or punishments for his actions has gotten his "just desserts.")

When one gets what one deserves, good or bad, one is getting one's "just deserts," accent on the second syllable but spelled like the arid, barren lands."

I seem to be sitting corrected - or at the very keast confused...

Wow, that's the very first time that I got the better of you - a memorable event ;-)

But you had me confused for a sec ;-)

Chamber's, Webster's and the OED support Bacon's derivation.

I have to admit, I had it wrong all these years. :-)

And they say you can't learn anything on LEO...!

Wouldn't that be worth a new entry? After all, it's a standard saying ...

go for it!

done ;-)

To receive comeuppance

Sollte das gleiche bedeuten, wie to get one's deserts?