08/06/2023
Sunday musings from the “littlest” Editing McKenna.
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Today I learned:
“Just desserts” is spelled “just deserts” because it has nothing to do with your only getting to have dessert (and not the entire meal), which, I have to admit, I never understood why this was a bad thing. 🤷♀️
Apparently, the etymology involves an earlier definition of the word “desert” which came from the word “deserve” … and now it all makes sense. Though, “all you get is the Sahara” — and no food, water, or even a parasol to go with it — also seems like a pretty epic consequence of being a sh*tty human.
☑️
(sp)
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The three generations of Editing McKennas gave a writer/editor, new-ish to the editing world, some good advice recently (at least, we think it is): Being a good editor or even proof reader is not about memorizing every grammatical fact. When it comes to spelling and grammar, in particular, it’s about using what you know — and we all have varying knowledge of our craft, depending on our training and experience — to identify what you may *not* know and then using the available resources (CMS, AP, Merriam-Webster, Google, etc.) to find and verify information and place it within the context of whatever you’re working on.
As a proof reader, “just deserts” is an example of a phrase that I would have looked up — whichever way I saw it spelled — to make sure the spelling was correct, because I didn’t know the etymology. I knew what it meant and how it was used, but I also knew there was more to know and had the curiosity and my instinct was to dig into it.
(Another fun fact: Editors get stuff wrong sometimes! In the case of “good” editors, it’s the exception to the rule — but good editors are *always* learning, just like everyone else.)
