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Murphy's Law
Mur·phy's Law M0488775 (mûr′fēz)n. Any of certain humorous axioms stating that anything that can possibly go wrong, will go wrong.
[After Edward A. Murphy (1918-1990), American engineer.]Word History: Edward Murphy was an American engineer who designed sensors for measuring the forces involved in crashes. Used in rocket sled experiments in 1941, his sensors failed to function after another person installed them incorrectly. This experience is said to have prompted Murphy to utter the axiom that has since become associated with his name. Murphy may have spoken the axiom, but he did not invent it, because variations of it are attested from the early 1900s.Murphy's law n informal another term for Sod's law [C20: of uncertain origin]Mur′phy's Law′
n. the facetious proposition that if something can go wrong, it will. [1955–60, Amer.; probably after E.A. Murphy, engineer in U.S. Air Force] Murphy's LawAn imaginary rule that states “if something can go wrong, it will;” perhaps from an Irish engineer who first formulated it.Thesaurus| Noun | 1. | Murphy's Law - humorous axiom stating that anything that can go wrong will go wrongSod's Lawgnome - a short pithy saying expressing a general truth |
Murphy's law
Murphy's lawThe axiom that if something can go wrong, it will. The manager always tries to anticipate Murphy's law, having us prepare for anything that could possibly go wrong on a project. Of course the toast landed butter-side down. Murphy's law.See also: lawMurphy's lawIf anything can go wrong, it will, as in We may think we've covered all the details for the benefit, but remember Murphy's law . The identity of Murphy, if ever a real person, is unknown. Some think it alludes to (but was not invented by) a feckless Irishman named Murphy. [c. 1940] See also: lawMurphy's law if anything can go wrong it will. Murphy's law is said to have been the inspiration of a Californian project manager for the firm Northrop, referring to a remark made in 1949 by a colleague, Captain Edward Murphy of the Wright Field-Aircraft Laboratory. In 1955 , Aviation Mechanics Bulletin explained Murphy's Law as ‘If an aircraft part can be installed incorrectly, someone will install it that way’.See also: lawˌMurphy’s ˈLaw (humorous) a statement of the fact that, if anything can possibly go wrong, it will go wrong: Of course it had to be the day of my job interview that the car broke down — it’s Murphy’s Law.This expression was named after Edward A. Murphy, Jr., an engineer in the US Air Force.See also: lawMurphy's lawIf anything can go wrong, it will. This expression appears to have originated in the mid-1900s in the U.S. Air Force. According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle of March 16, 1978 (cited in the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang), during some testing at Edwards Air Force Base in 1949 Captain Ed Murphy, an engineer, was frustrated with a malfunctioning part and said about the technician responsible, “If there is any way to do things wrong, he will.”Within weeks his statement was referred to as “Murphy’s Law,” and by about 1960 it had entered the civilian vocabulary and was attached to just about any mistake or mishap. In succeeding decades it became a cliché.See also: lawMurphy's Law
Murphy's Law (humour)(Or "Sod's Law") The correct, *original* Murphy's Lawreads: "If there are two or more ways to do something, and oneof those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone willdo it." This is a principle of defensive design, cited herebecause it is usually given in mutant forms less descriptiveof the challenges of design for lusers. For example, youdon't make a two-pin plug symmetrical and then label it "THISWAY UP"; if it matters which way it is plugged in, then youmake the design asymmetrical (see also the anecdote undermagic smoke).
Edward A. Murphy, Jr. was one of the engineers on therocket-sled experiments that were done by the US Air Force in1949 to test human acceleration tolerances (USAF projectMX981). One experiment involved a set of 16 accelerometersmounted to different parts of the subject's body. There weretwo ways each sensor could be glued to its mount, and somebodymethodically installed all 16 the wrong way around. Murphythen made the original form of his pronouncement, which thetest subject (Major John Paul Stapp) quoted at a newsconference a few days later.
Within months "Murphy's Law' had spread to various technicalcultures connected to aerospace engineering. Before too manyyears had gone by variants had passed into the popularimagination, changing as they went. Most of these arevariants on "Anything that can go wrong, will"; this issometimes referred to as Finagle's Law. The memetic driftapparent in these mutants clearly demonstrates Murphy's Lawacting on itself!Murphy's Law
Murphy's LawAn adage stating, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." Murphy's Law is used in business because of the inherent unpredictability of risk.Murphy's Law
Synonyms for Murphy's Lawnoun humorous axiom stating that anything that can go wrong will go wrongSynonymsRelated Words |