Murphy’s Law . . . you know the one that goes ‘If anything
can go wrong, it will’ . . . so named after Capt. Edward A. Murphy, a US Air
Force Engineer. While working on one
of Murphy’s assigned projects, a technician flubbed the wiring. The good captain cursed the man and said,
"If there is any way to do it wrong, he'll find it." Shortly afterwards, aerospace manufacturers began
using it during their ad campaigns and Murphy's Law was born.
Murphy’s Law . . . such that is . . . is an adage that has
been around for hundreds of year. Long
before Murphy’s grandfather’s grandfather was a sperm waiting to meet an
egg. Good thing the law didn’t apply to
him or Murphy may never have been around to make the phrase famous.
Anyhoo . . . before it
was Murphy’s Law, it was more commonly known as Sod’s Law; especially across
the pond. When someone is unlucky they
are often referred to as an unlucky sod . . . hence Sod’s Law.
Of course, things have been going wrong since the beginning
of time. I’m sure there was a precursor to
Sod’s Law.
In modern times, there are Finagle’s Law, Hanlon’s Razor, and
Hofstadter's law; which all pretty much add up to the same thing . . . similar ideas,
different viewpoints. But I think my
favorite may be Sturgeon’s Law. So
called after Sci-fi writer Theodore Sturgeon who stated "ninety percent of
everything is crap" . . . yeah, that pretty much sums it up.
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