# It's the law: Poe, Gaudere, Murphy, Sturgeon and...? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 2018, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-law-poe-gaudere-murphy-sturgeon-and/826303 "2018-12-18T01:40:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-law-poe-gaudere-murphy-sturgeon-and/826303/1 "2018-12-18T01:40:24Z")
An observation crystalized for me today in the sentence “There’s always that one fucking guy”, or more properly “There’s always That. One. Fucking. Guy.” Is this observation one that’s already been formulated and named? I figure if anybody will know it’ll be the Dope, as the local population is pretty much entirely made up of various iterations of TOFG. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-law-poe-gaudere-murphy-sturgeon-and/826303/2 "2018-12-18T02:12:25Z")
For certain uses of the phrase, [nutpicking](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Nutpicking) would apply. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-law-poe-gaudere-murphy-sturgeon-and/826303/3 "2018-12-18T02:22:20Z")
Clarke? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-law-poe-gaudere-murphy-sturgeon-and/826303/4 "2018-12-18T10:22:50Z")
You missed Godwin off your title list. Clarke had [three laws](https://www.thoughtco.com/what-are-clarkes-laws-2699067)- greedy! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-law-poe-gaudere-murphy-sturgeon-and/826303/5 "2018-12-18T10:28:43Z")
Asimov - for Three Laws of Robotics: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. ---
**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:** [December 18, 2018, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-law-poe-gaudere-murphy-sturgeon-and/826303/6 "2018-12-18T14:32:26Z")
I think people are missing the point of the OP: He’s asking if the observation “There’s always that One Guy” is a named law, and if so, who it’s named after. He doesn’t just want a list of people who have other laws named after them. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-law-poe-gaudere-murphy-sturgeon-and/826303/7 "2018-12-18T14:46:37Z")
Not even sure what the one guy’s deal is without context, but [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_eponymous_laws) is a list of eponymous laws (named after the Greek philosopher Eponymy.) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-law-poe-gaudere-murphy-sturgeon-and/826303/8 "2018-12-18T14:57:22Z")
> [@3trew](#): > > An observation crystalized for me today in the sentence “There’s always that one fucking guy”, or more properly “There’s always That. One. Fucking. Guy.” > > Is this observation one that’s already been formulated and named? [Rotten Apple](https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/rotten+apple)? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-law-poe-gaudere-murphy-sturgeon-and/826303/9 "2018-12-18T15:18:17Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > [Rotten Apple](https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/rotten+apple)? I donno–the last part of the OP is > [@](#): > > I figure if anybody will know it’ll be the Dope, as the local population is pretty much entirely made up of various iterations of TOFG. So whatever he means by that, he thinks that most of us are it. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-law-poe-gaudere-murphy-sturgeon-and/826303/10 "2018-12-18T17:05:32Z")
Found it! > [@3trew's law](#): > > No matter how carefully formulated a position, and how accurate its representative statement, _someone_ will concoct an example to nullify the position.