My regular editor is very good at finding phrases that I have forgotten to check when writing my stories. Some are appropriate for the time period. Some are not. What about “Just deserts”?
The phrase “just deserts” means receiving the exact punishment or reward that one’s actions have earned. The single ‘s’ spelling is correct. It is unrelated to a sandy wilderness or sweet food.
According to the South China Morning Post, “I don’t mean dessert, with double ‘s,’ the last course of a meal, usually sweet. Dessert – entering English at the start of the 17th century – comes from the French dessert, originating in desservir, from the Latin dis + servīre, meaning to remove what has been served, that is, to clear the table of the main dishes and put out sweet dishes or fruit to end the meal.
“In the phrase ‘just deserts,’ the word – also stressed on it second syllable [‘de-ZERT’], thus homophonous with dessert – is, however, spelt with a single ‘s,’ and comes from a different French word, ‘desert’ [masculine]/ deserte [feminine]. derivatives of deservir ‘to deserve.’ This also originates in the Latin servīre ‘to serve,’ but the prefix dē meaning ‘completely, zealously.'” [Language Matters]
Check out its origins and details:
Etymological Roots: The word “desert” (pronounced dih-ZERT) comes from the Old French word deservir, which shares the same root as the modern English verb “deserve”. [Just Deserts vs. Just Desserts]
Origin and History: Dating back to the late 1200s, the noun “desert” originally meant “that which one deserves”. By the early 1500s, the full phrase “just desert(s)” emerged, utilizing “just” in the sense of being fitting or appropriate. [Wiktionary]
The Single ‘S’: The expression is frequently misspelled as “just desserts” (with a double ‘s’) because people confuse it with the after-dinner sweet treat. However, the post-meal dessert entered the English language around 1600 from a completely different French word (desservir, meaning to clear the table). [Merriam Webster]
Excerpt from Chapter Thirteen:
“I am confident you are correct, Grandfather,” she said obediently. She chose not to remind him that the colonel had viewed her in a state of near nudity when he removed the bullet fragment from her arm. Colonel Fitzwilliam’s weight had held her down while he cut into her skin. A man and a woman who had shared such an intimate moment were beyond a glimpse of bare leg.
“I pray we will soon be free of this madness,” her grandfather said from his place outside the open door.
“There are more than a handful of the aristocracy attempting to bring Lord Whitmorris to some form of justice,” she assured.
“Whether Whitmorris receives his just deserts or not, I want your mother and your brother to come stay with us at Kirkland Manor,” he said.
“Us? Am I to come? If the government cannot prove Lord Whitmorris has acted against British interests, what occurs with the agreement my mother made with his lordship?” she asked as she dragged the blanket upward to cover herself better.
“You are not yet of age,” he declared. “You were born in England to English parents. Such makes you an English citizen, who has been living abroad,” he reasoned as he cracked the door a bit wider so she might view him and his obvious determination. “As such, with your father’s passing, you became the ward of either the Kirkland earldom or the Summerville baronetcy. I have drafted a letter to Sir Jasper to inform him of my plan to bring your mother and your brother to England and ask for his and Lady Anna’s support in returning our joint family to English shores. As Grayson is to inherit the Kirkland earldom, I believe he should stay at my home estate. At his age, he should learn the ins and outs of the estate, as well as his responsibility to the earldom.”
“In truth, Grandfather, I doubt Grayson has considered all you mentioned. Despite his age, he still heavily depends on mother’s opinions. If she chose to return to her parents’ home, I would expect Grayson would follow.”
Her grandfather did not speak for several minutes. “You will stay in Derbyshire, will you not, Christiana? I have so many things I wish to show you.”
His political engagement began in his interest in the law. He wrote and organized against a poll-tax originated by the royal governor just prior to the outbreak of hostilities. He was a local leader in the patriot movement in the late 1770s.
Charles Wilson Peale’s famous portrait of William Paca, painted in 1772, says much about the man. With arm akimbo, he is very much the self-assured diplomat, lawyer, planter, and patriot. An extremely attractive, tall, yet large, man, he exudes the charm, fashionable demeanor, and educated manner for which he was known. With a bust of Cicero beside him and his Annapolis garden and summerhouse in the background, Paca fills the seven and a half foot canvas with the presence and confidence that would help win independence for the colonies. Many years later, Peale described his famous commission in these words: “A handsome man, more than six feet high, of portly appearance, being well educated and accustomed to the best company, [Paca] was graceful in his movements and complaisant to everyone; in short, his manners were of the first polish. In the early period when the people’s eyes first became opened to their rights,[he] made the first stand for the Independence of the People.”
The relationship between Lee and his oldest brother steadily worsened over the next few years. In 1754 Lee and his siblings brought suit against Philip Lee for not immediately dividing Thomas Lee’s estate according to his will. The lawsuit failed—Philip Lee had wanted to settle his father’s debts before dividing up his property—but Francis Lee and his younger siblings did successfully petition the court to have their cousin Henry Lee appointed as their guardian. When the familial discord threatened to undermine the Lees’ social and political position in colonial Virginia, Francis Lee set aside his differences with his oldest brother and focused on restoring the family’s rank in the colony. Although Lee’s relationship with his oldest brother remained strained, he developed a close bond with his other siblings, brothers Thomas Ludwell Lee, Richard Henry Lee, William Lee, and Arthur Lee, and sisters Hannah Lee and Alice Lee. When Philip Lee finally gave Frank Lee the land he had inherited in far-off Loudoun County, he eagerly took up residence there and was soon called to public service.
In 1769, Lee married Rebecca Tayloe, the sixteen-year-old daughter of John Tayloe, of Mount Airy. Frank was in his thirties at the time. Rebecca Tayloe was one of the eight daughters of John Tayloe II. In providing his blessing, Rebecca’s father made a wedding gift to the couple of a plantation of 1,000 acres. Frank and Rebecca moved to Richmond County. He soon began overseeing the construction of a new residence, Menokin. That same year, residents of Richmond County elected him to the Virginia House of Burgesses; once again, he maintained an inactive role and attended sessions sporadically. He also served the county as a justice of the peace from 1770 until the collapse of Virginia’s colonial government in 1774, and, for a brief time in 1771, was justice of the peace for both Richmond and Loudoun counties.
He became a close associate of Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, though he preferred library discussions and back-room strategy to the limelight of public debate. Frank’s contributions to the formation of the American Republic, though subtle and often overlooked, were nonetheless critical. His staid countenance offered stability to the sometimes fractious debate among the delegates and, importantly, he modulated the fiery and sometimes divisive speech of his brother, Richard Henry. “He was,” as his youngest brother Arthur attested, “calmness and philosophy itself.”
Though evidence shows that Hopkinson worked on the design of the U.S. flag, Congress turned down his request for “a quarter cask of the public wine” as payment for its creation. There is no definitive answer about who was responsible for the placement and style of the flag’s stars, but Hopkinson’s other design work, which includes contributing to the design of the Great Seal of the United States, lends credence to his bid for credit.
