# Please explicitly define Murphy's Law **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 26, 2006, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593 "2006-12-26T06:04:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![H3Knuckles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@H3Knuckles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/H3Knuckles)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/1 "2006-12-26T06:04:17Z")
As distinct from Sod’s Law (“Anything that can go wrong, will”) and Finagle’s Law of Dynamic Negatives (“Anything that can go wrong, will, and at the worst possible moment”). Murphy’s Law seems to be coloquially used as though it were stating that any time an event can have an ironic negative outcome, it will. But as I understood it, that’s not correct. Rather, I was informed that it was “things will always go wrong if given the chance.” But recently it occured to me that that is exactly the same as Sod’s Law. Is this correct, or is there some missing fine distinction between the two? Wikipedia lists it as: “If there’s more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will result in disaster, then somebody will do it that way.” Aside: Is there a law that states that “in any given situation, at least one thing will always go wrong?” Would this effectively be a restatement of the military axiom “no plan survives contact with the enemy?” PS. In the interest of full disclosure, I referred to wikipedia to fact-check while writing this post, which may have skewed my perceptions incorrectly. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/2 "2006-12-26T06:14:56Z")
Murphy’s law: Anything that can go wrong, will. Those other laws may overlap, contradict, etc… ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/3 "2006-12-26T06:20:32Z")
I’ve always–and this is going back at least 30 years–heard Muprhy’s Law expressed as some variant of “Anything which can go wrong, will go wrong.” ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/4 "2006-12-26T06:30:35Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] I’ve always–and this is going back at least 30 years–heard Muprhy’s Law expressed as some variant of “Anything which can go wrong, will go wrong.” [/QUOTE] Yeah… Who the F are Sod and Finagle anyway? ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/5 "2006-12-26T06:50:58Z")
I don’t know Sod (heh), but Finagle is from Larry Niven’s Known Space books. He’s a sort of pseudogod, not-really-worshipped by a majority of spacefaring types and some planetbound people too. The idea is that people who live and work in space or other highly dangerous environments are either smart and observant, or dead. Finagle is the embodiment of all the hazards one might face. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/6 "2006-12-26T07:06:20Z")
I always thought Sod, as in Off, was a British thing. So Sod’s Law would be something along the lines of Bastard’s Law in American English. The original Murphy’s Law was an attempt to get people to pay attention to their surroundings instead of happily doing things the wrong way. (‘Happy’, in this context, means blind and ignorant as well as its usual meaning.) It morphed into the current formulation because of the That Van is Always On the Corner Syndrome: When we notice something, we subsequently notice things similar to that which reinforce whatever idea we hold about it. If you think blondes are stupid, you will notice dumb things blondes do to the exclusion of more intelligent things blondes do, reinforcing your notions. In this specific case, the thing you keep noticing is that things screw up at bad moments. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/7 "2006-12-26T07:14:52Z")
So, in, other words, they mean diddly squat when compared to _real_\* parables, and Murphy OWNS them. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/8 "2006-12-26T08:24:14Z")
[Here](http://www.improb.com/airchives/paperair/volume9/v9i5/murphy/murphy0.html) is the story of Murphy. About `1/2 way down on part one is where it came about. Part way down [this page](http://www.murphys-laws.com/murphy/murphy-true.html) is a comparison of Murphy’s Law and Sod’s law. Never forget, Murphy was an optimist. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/9 "2006-12-26T08:38:27Z")
[QUOTE=Rick] [Here](http://www.improb.com/airchives/paperair/volume9/v9i5/murphy/murphy0.html) is the story of Murphy. About `1/2 way down on part one is where it came about. Part way down [this page](http://www.murphys-laws.com/murphy/murphy-true.html) is a comparison of Murphy’s Law and Sod’s law. Never forget, Murphy was an optimist. 😃 [/QUOTE] That all good and fine, **Rick** , but those are decidedly subjected interpretations. Not to mention both articles tout glaring factual errors: > [@](#): > > Murphy’s Law (“If anything can go wrong, it will”) was born at Edwards Air Force Base in 1949 at North Base. > > It was named after Capt. Edward A. Murphy, an engineer working on Air Force Project Wow… I though it was way older? ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/10 "2006-12-26T08:39:46Z")
subject **ive**? :smack: ? ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/11 "2006-12-26T16:43:16Z")
[QUOTE=Eleusis] That all good and fine, **Rick** , but those are decidedly subjected interpretations. Not to mention both articles tout glaring factual errors: Wow… I though it was way older? [/QUOTE] You know, before asserting “glaring factual errors” you might try reading up on Murphy’s Law first. Like by looking at the article on it at [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy%27s_law) which, while not necessarily the “best” source of information, at least has reference to the whole controversy about how the law got started, with some rather detailed factual information, all culled from books on the subject. You know, kinda like the Straight Dope. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/12 "2006-12-26T16:47:11Z")
[QUOTE=Rick] [Here](http://www.improb.com/airchives/paperair/volume9/v9i5/murphy/murphy0.html) is the story of Murphy. [/QUOTE] I was going to post that link! It’s a good article. Having worked at Edwards, I like reading on its history. You’re a bastidge for beating me to it! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/13 "2006-12-26T16:49:33Z")
Oh, and in answer to the OP, there IS no accepted formulation of ‘Murphy’s Law.’ The “Law” itself is merely a formulation of a generally well-known concept that predates the famous Murphy. So, in short, you cannot easily seperate Murphy’s Law from Sod’s Law from Finagle’s Law. Which, in a way, is Murphy’s Law in action. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mycroft\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_H)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/14 "2006-12-26T17:04:38Z")
I was going to reference the site that **Rick** did as well. It is fascinating. Plus, you can’t get better than the original story for the original intent of the meaning. I actually learned about it years ago from another Doper. The Annals of Improbable Research author put it in a book available on [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/History-Murphys-Law-Nick-Spark/dp/0978638891). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/15 "2006-12-26T17:12:22Z")
[QUOTE=Mycroft H.] I actually learned about it years ago from another Doper. [/QUOTE] In June 2004 I posted that I’d posted the link in September 2003. Only I couldn’t find the 2003 post. ---
**Author:** ![633squadron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/ee59a6/32.png) [@633squadron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/633squadron)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/16 "2006-12-27T02:48:41Z")
[QUOTE=H3Knuckles] As distinct from Sod’s Law (“Anything that can go wrong, will”) and Finagle’s Law of Dynamic Negatives (“Anything that can go wrong, will, and at the worst possible moment”). [/QUOTE] The most formal definition I’ve heard for Murphy’s Law is “The perversity of inanimate objects tends towards a maximum.” In other words, stuff never does what you expect it to do. I am _certain_ that it was originally meant as a joke, a way of dealing with an increasingly complex world of technology, and an acknowledgement that our trust and certainty in progress is ill-founded. I prefer to illustrate the technological philosophy of Murphy’s laws by various corollaries I’ve learned over time, such as:[ul] [li]If the assembly of an object requires _n_ parts, then the kit will arrive with _n_ - 1 parts.[/li][li]A tool will fall where it will do the most damage.[/li][li]A $300 CRT tube will protect a 50-cent fuse by blowing first.[/li][li]For the set _N_ of all conceivable tests of a component, there exists a superset _M_ of tests that wholly contains _N_. Each member of _M_ that is not in _N_ has a corresponding member in the set _E_ of known failures of the component. In other words, all the testing you do ensures that the component will fail in some other way.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![H3Knuckles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@H3Knuckles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/H3Knuckles)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/17 "2006-12-27T05:21:35Z")
thanks for the replies, everyone! So, what we’re looking at is essentially a universal thought thing (same concept is developed independently in multiple places at various times), with Finagle’s Law essentially being a corollary to Sod and Murphy’s Laws. Oh, and as for my brief aside: Is there a law, distinct from the above which only says that _something_ will always go wrong, as opposed to “anything that can go wrong, will?” And if I’m not retreading old ground, can I name it myself? ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/18 "2006-12-27T10:25:47Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] You know, before asserting “glaring factual errors” you might try reading up on Murphy’s Law first. Like by looking at the article on it at [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy%27s_law) which, while not necessarily the “best” source of information, at least has reference to the whole controversy about how the law got started, with some rather detailed factual information, all culled from books on the subject. You know, kinda like the Straight Dope. 🙂 [/QUOTE] My bad. Consider ignorance fought. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/19 "2006-12-27T12:03:48Z")
I once saw a mathematical equation for Murphy’s Law. Of course, I cannot remember the source and I did have to change the mathematical symbol which was originally a pointing finger, but you’ll get the idea. 1 + 1 » 2, where » is a mathematical symbol meaning “hardly ever.” ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593/20 "2006-12-28T15:37:56Z")
Murphy’s law-Widow washing…Its on the other side Science…Any white mouse experimented on develops cancer [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explicitly-define-murphys-law/385593.md?page=2)