# Do you have a "law" (like Murphy's Law)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 19, 2013, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210 "2013-09-19T04:56:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/81 "2013-09-21T04:19:34Z")
> [@willthekittensurvive](#): > > see post 26… > > just kidding /applause > [@phouka](#): > > The Butter Side Down Rule (a version of Murphy’s) > > - If you drop a piece of buttered toast, it will land butter side down every time. Anybody remember the Prince Valiant comic strip? There was one where Prince Valiant was in China, speaking with the Emperor. The Emperor’s wise men rushed in, proclaiming doom, because one of them had dropped a slice of buttered toast and it had landed butter-side UP. Clearly this was a portent of doom. Prince Valiant calmed their fears by suggesting that, perhaps, they had simply buttered the wrong side of the toast. 😃 > [@](#): > > Mode’s Law of Luck > > - Fortune favors the prepared AKA the harder I work, the luckier I get. “I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” – Thomas Jefferson > [@Claverhouse](#): > > Certainly, and I recently mentioned it in a thread: > Throughout history, everyone was a bastard. > > Obviously not each person — most maybe — but nations, tribes, states, organizations, rulers and peoples. Perhaps they had to be, and it is no reason not to follow or admire them; but all did bad things to those they felt needed it. This is true (I’ve been reading J.B. Bury’s “Cambridge Medieval History”). > [@enipla](#): > > I know this is not original, but the one saying I like, that is sort of like a ‘Murphy’s’ law is - “Experiance is what you get when you don’t get what you want” There was one I read, and I can’t remember the exact wording, but it was something like, “Wisdom comes from experience. Experience comes from lack of wisdom.” ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/82 "2013-09-21T05:17:02Z")
In the aviation world it was heard a lot that, “The way to gain good judgement was to survive your bad judgement.” ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/83 "2013-09-21T05:18:12Z")
The best pass to most anywhere is a hard hat & a clip board. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/84 "2013-09-21T05:35:58Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > There was one I read, and I can’t remember the exact wording, but it was something like, “Wisdom comes from experience. Experience comes from lack of wisdom.” As I once pointed out to one worthless idiot I had working for me who was always talking about his years of experience, experience doesn’t mean shit if you’re too stupid to learn anything from it. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/85 "2013-09-21T06:06:49Z")
Murphy’s Law: The Pantyhose Corollary: The more you like a particular pair of hose, the faster they will run. If you flipping hate the suckers and they pull and sag and are itchy, they will never, ever run. Ever. they will always be that last pair in the drawer you end up wearing because that nice pair that felt like silk ran the second you put them on. It works the same for most things. The more you like something, the sooner it breaks. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/86 "2013-09-21T06:07:59Z")
Maggie’s Law of High School/College Dating: Never believe a fellow who tells you he loves you before you’ve slept with him. He’s either lying to you or to himself. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/87 "2013-09-21T13:02:21Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > The best pass to most anywhere is a hard hat & a clip board. In a pinch, you can substitute a confident wave for the hard hat. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/88 "2013-09-22T09:23:32Z")
Hardly groundbreaking, but I’m noticing that there seems to be a law of popular memetic reduction: The more popular a complex idea or work of art becomes, the more likely it is that all discussion of it will be reduced to the neurotic repetition of a couple of simple internet memes. Of course, this observation may in part be caused by the Martian law of cyclic nocturnal snarkiness: The closer I get to bed time, the more snarky and arrogant my posts become. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/89 "2013-09-22T13:17:41Z")
A big part of my job is driving a forklift. No matter how little traffic is moving in the plant at any particular time, if I stop my forklift and step away from it for one second, suddenly at least one and often more forklifts will appear out of nowhere and I will be blocking the exact place they need to get to. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/90 "2013-09-22T18:49:44Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > A big part of my job is driving a forklift. No matter how little traffic is moving in the plant at any particular time, if I stop my forklift and step away from it for one second, suddenly at least one and often more forklifts will appear out of nowhere and I will be blocking the exact place they need to get to. Works even faster on a deserted road when you flag down a person going the other way for some directions. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/91 "2013-09-23T04:49:58Z")
My father had a good one - absolutely accurate, too. It was “The Malevolence of the Inanimate” - Things are out to get you. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/92 "2013-09-23T05:01:39Z")
I’m sure there’s a name for my favorite law, but I can’t find it right now. My favorite says that: “A $4500 piece of gear will blow to protect a 49 cent fuse.” ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/93 "2013-09-24T04:05:14Z")
The unified theory basis of Murphy’s Law and a great many more: The Universe tends towards the perverse. If something is made fool-proof, Nature will evolve a new and improved fool. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/94 "2013-09-24T04:22:07Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > My father had a good one - absolutely accurate, too. It was > > “The Malevolence of the Inanimate” - Things are out to get you. The perverse law of inanimate objects. If you have a sink full of dishes and turn on the facet there will one spoon that will direct the water stream all over you. ---
**Author:** ![jsquire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jsquire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsquire)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/95 "2013-09-24T09:27:05Z")
My wife once asked me for my philosophy of life. I replied, “the shortest checkout line always moves the slowest”. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/96 "2013-09-24T10:11:47Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > In the aviation world it was heard a lot that, “The way to gain good judgement was to survive your bad judgement.” pullin’s First Law of flight instruction (I tell this to all my new students): The airplane knows more about flying than you do. Our goal is to teach you to listen to it. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/97 "2013-09-24T17:09:25Z")
If you want a job done quickly, give it to a lazy person. They are motivated to maximize their leisure time, so will find the shortest route to completion. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/98 "2013-09-24T17:13:54Z")
I think this thread has strayed from “Laws you’ve invented” to “Laws you’ve heard and/or adopted”. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/99 "2013-09-24T17:19:40Z")
My father always used to say, “Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.” ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210/100 "2013-09-24T18:33:23Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > The Law of Jughandles: Whatever you need, wherever you’re going, it’s always on the other side of the highway. Closely related to the video game law of open world play: The next mission will require you to drive completely across the map and back to accomplish your goal. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-law-like-murphys-law/669210.md?page=6)