Wednesday, April 16, 2008

We'd Like Just Desserts

Ah, just desserts. It's what we'd eat if we could, but we like to stay in fighting shape.

This headline, however, should read "just deserts." That's how the expression should be spelled. Deserts are what you deserve. The words share the same root.

Desserts, on the other hand, are rarely handed out as punishments. We do know some people who try to pass sugar-free Jell-O off as dessert. That's pretty punishing in our book.
Iowa pranksters get just desserts: 3,000 forks in their yard
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DUBUQUE, Iowa -- When known pranksters Rick and Marilyn Jones left town for a wedding, neighbors seeking payback eyed their property and decided to stick a fork in it - a few thousand forks, in fact.

Tom and Paula Tschudi planted 3,000 white plastic forks in the Jones' yard and dangled more from the roof, fence and garage.

"We just wanted to do something funny to them, because every time we leave, they pull some prank on us," said Paula Tschudi, who promised to help pick up the forks.

Over the years, the Joneses have strung beer cans like holiday lights around the Tschudis' home, put a for-sale sign in their yard and strung yellow crime-scene tape around chalk outlines of bodies on the sidewalk.

As the Tschudis, their two children and another neighborhood family planted the forks Sunday, one passer-by asked what they were doing.

"We told him we were aerating their lawn," Paula Tschudi said with a laugh.

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