# Hey Murphy -- Screw You And Your Law **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 11, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-murphy-screw-you-and-your-law/360313 "2006-06-11T16:28:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-murphy-screw-you-and-your-law/360313/1 "2006-06-11T16:28:48Z")
You want to know what I _never_ do? Cut myself while shaving. It just doesn’t happen. In three hours, I’ll be standing in front of a hundred or so family members and friends, next to my BIL as he gets married. And my face looks like Sweeny Todd got some extra pointers from Freddie Kruger. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-murphy-screw-you-and-your-law/360313/2 "2006-06-11T16:30:13Z")
Aaaand, this was definitely _not_ meant for CS. Little mod help, please? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-murphy-screw-you-and-your-law/360313/3 "2006-06-11T16:50:13Z")
Just a pedantic point here: The well-known adage “Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong” is not actually Murphy’s law, but Finagle’s. Murphy’s Law is actually “If there is a right way and a wrong way to do something, some fool will invariably choose the wrong way”, and is a statement about sound engineering practices: Better to design a system in such a way that the wrong way can’t be done, or such that there is no wrong way. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-murphy-screw-you-and-your-law/360313/4 "2006-06-11T17:30:19Z")
**Briston’s** Law: If there’s a right forum and a wrong forum in which to start a thread… ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-murphy-screw-you-and-your-law/360313/5 "2006-06-11T17:49:13Z")
'Tis moved. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-murphy-screw-you-and-your-law/360313/6 "2006-06-11T18:23:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Just a pedantic point here: The well-known adage “Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong” is not actually Murphy’s law, but Finagle’s. Just to out-pedantic you, this is almost certainly a general addage applied to many fields(mountaineering, the theater). Finagle is cited much later than the addage. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-murphy-screw-you-and-your-law/360313/7 "2006-06-11T19:04:31Z")
What’s a pedantic point on a pedantic point called? A pediantic point? ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-murphy-screw-you-and-your-law/360313/8 "2006-06-11T19:22:02Z")
I don’t know who’s law it is but I always liked “There’s no accounting for the infernal cussedness of inanimate objects.” I think that might apply here.