de-served "hot corn"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>The lack of response to my query suggests that it has not been well
>researched.

I have done a quick Google.

I have never heard this "just deserves".

I would never consider writing "just desserts". But I suppose that
some hearing "just deserts" as "just desserts" might balk at such
nonsense and reinterpret the phrase as "just deserves" (being
unfamiliar with the appropriate noun "desert").

At Google Books there are several recent (last 40 years) examples of
"just deserves". Also, there is an example of "their just deserves"
from about 1920, in a letter from Brooklyn NY.

Note that "just deservings" was a reasonably frequent equivalent
during the 19th century; this is still in use to some extent,
according to Google Web search, although I don't recall hearing it
myself. MW3 shows "deserving" [n.] = "desert".

I don't see anything in DARE or other US dialect dictionaries at a glance.

-- Doug Wilson


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