Just Deserts: One “s” in the Middle

by Ken Bresler
The Vocabula Review, January 2015

Before we discuss the phrase “just deserts,” let’s discuss “desert,” the sandy wilderness; and “dessert,” a treat, usually sweet, ending a meal.

Desert, a sandy wilderness, has one “s.” I have two mnemonics (memory devices) for you. Mnemonic 1: Think “Sahara desert.” Each word has one “s.” Mnemonic 2: Think “sandy desert.”

Each word has one “s.”

Dessert, a treat ending a meal, has two “s’s.” Mnemonic: Imagine a restaurant with a sign, “Desserts Stressed.” That phrase is a palindrome; it reads the same forward and back.

Now for just deserts: “Just deserts” are what someone justly deserves.

The phrase has one “s.” It is related to “deserve,” not the “desert” that is a sandy wilderness. It is not related to “dessert,” the last course of a meal – although “just deserts” is pronounced like “desserts.”

Mnemonic: “Just deserts” has one “s” in the middle, just as “deserve” has one “s.”

Here’s the U.S. Supreme Court using “just deserts” correctly: “Putting Enmund to death to avenge two killings that he did not commit and had no intention of committing or causing does not measurably contribute to the retributive end of ensuring that the criminal gets his just deserts.” (The case was Enmund v. Florida, 458 U.S. 782, 801 (1982).)

Here’s a federal appeals court getting it wrong: “That a plaintiff may derive satisfaction from the fact that a wrongdoer gets his just desserts does not constitute an acceptable Article III remedy.” (The case: Plotkin v. Ryan, 239 F.3d 882, 885 (7th Cir. 2001)(citation omitted).)

Here’s the Nevada Supreme Court getting it wrong: “[A] criminal offender may be punished because he deserves it. Retribution or just desserts as a response to criminal law violation is thought by many jurists and social theorists to be archaic and inappropriate.” (That was Scott L. v. State, 760 P.2d 134, 136 (Nev. S. Ct. 1988)(italics in original).)

Although the court italicized “deserves,” the court missed the connection between “deserves” and “deserts.”

Just remember “deserves.”