The History Channel gets another one wrong

[Johnny_L.A]

I have The History Channel on in the background, and they’re showing a show about the Irish in America. They talked about phrases that entered the lexicon, such as Paddy wagon and Luck of the Irish. They said that there were so many Irish making substantial achievements and gaining so much recognition, that people claimed they were ‘lucky’. That is, ‘there’s no way them Micks could get those things through intelligence and hard work! They’re just lucky, is all!’ :rolleyes:

Okay, that may well have been the attitude at the time. Maybe that’s where ‘luck of the Irish’ does come from. But then they link Murphy’s Law to it – ‘Anything that can go wrong, will. That’s the “luck of the Irish”.’

Wrong!

Nick T. Spark came upon a book called Murphy’s Law And Other Reasons Why Things Go Wrong. In it was printed a letter by George Nichols, an engineer at Edwards Air Force Base who was there when the phrase was born.

“The Law’s namesake,” Nichols wrote, “was Capt. Ed Murphy Jr., a development engineer… Frustrated with a strap transducer which was malfunctioning due to an error in wiring the strain gauge bridges caused him to remark — ‘if there is any way to do it wrong, he will’ — referring to the technician who had wired the bridges. I assigned Murphy’s Law to the statement and the associated variations…”

<snip>

Murphy’s sour comment proceeded to make the rounds at the sled track. “When something goes wrong,” Hill says, “The message is distributed to everyone in the program.” The way the fat got chewed Murphy’s words —‘if there’s any way they can do it wrong, they will’ — were transformed into a finer, more demonstrative “if anything can go wrong, it will.” A legend had been hatched. But not yet born.

The Fastest Man On Earth, by Spark, is a very interesting read on the early rocket sled tests – and it reveals the origins of Murphy’s Law, after Capt. Edward Aloysius Murphy.

[Dan_Norder]

Perhaps you could just save time and let us know if they ever get something right.

[Johnny_L.A]

Well, there was the origin of the word ‘doosie’.

Oh, wait…

[Chefguy]

Next you’ll be telling us that Gaudere’s Law was invented by members of a message board instead of the famous French philosopher and grammarian, Jean Claude Louis Gaudere.

[AncientHumanoid]

Dates! We need dates! When did Murphy Rocket Man say that and was it ever used in any context (verifiable) before?

Remember, just cause some guy lays claim to a catch phrase isn’t conclusive proof.

For instance, I invented “What’s happening?” way way back in the early 30s.

Where’s Samclem? He’s pretty good at these things.

[Johnny_L.A]

@NoClueBoy

Dates! We need dates! When did Murphy Rocket Man say that and was it ever used in any context (verifiable) before?

The rocket sled tests started in 1947, and there is mention of Murphy ‘a few months later’. Murphy apparently didn’t say ‘Whatever can go wrong. will go wrong.’

Another was the ‘Sunshine Law,’ which meant that if the sun was shining over Edwards, there must be work to do. The entire team eventually got into the act, coming up with Laws. Nichols’ Law for instance came into being after he witnessed a colleague attempt to jump across a dry concrete canal. The attempt failed. “So my law,” Nichols says proudly, “is: ‘If a proposed action has any unsatisfactory results, forget about it.’

Which leads us to Murphy’s Law. The reason most people get it wrong, Nichols indicates, is that they don’t know how it was originally stated or what it meant. “It’s supposed to be, ‘If it can happen, it will’,” says Nichols, “Not ‘whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.’” The difference is a subtle one, yet the meaning is clear. One is a positive statement, indicating a belief that if one can predict the bad things that might happen, steps can be taken so that they can be avoided. The other version presents a much more somber, some might say fatalistic, view of reality.

<snip>

As it was Murphy’s silly, maybe even slightly asinine comment made the rounds. “He really ticked off some team members by blaming the whole thing on his underling,” Nichols says. “And we got to thinking as a group. You know? We’ve got a Murphy’s Law in that. And then we started talking about what it should be. His statement was too long, and it really didn’t fit into a Law. So we tried many different things and we finally came up with, ‘If it can happen, it will happen.’”

So Murphy’s Law was created, more or less spontaneously, by the entire Northrop test team under the supervision of Nichols. In one sense, it represented a bit of sweet revenge upon Ed Murphy.

So it seems clear that the term ‘Murphy’s Law’ came about around 1948. Someone, somewhere may have said ‘If anything can go wrong, it will’ before that; but the name of the phrase looks like it originates with Capt. Murphy.

@NoClueBoy

Remember, just cause some guy lays claim to a catch phrase isn’t conclusive proof.

You should read the article to see the research Sparks did into the issue. He interviewed people who were actually there. In the article there are differing accounts of how it came about, but:

There are at least — some undeniable facts. No matter who was at fault or who named the expression, the Law was named in honor of Ed Murphy, that’s for sure. And Stapp was the person who popularized it, no question about that.

[AncientHumanoid]

worx4me, I like seeing research. I read the linked article, and I’ll check B&N tonight to see if they have the reffed book, looks like a good read.

I wonder what the youngest well used phrase is…

[Johnny_L.A]

@NoClueBoy

worx4me, I like seeing research. I read the linked article, and I’ll check B&N tonight to see if they have the reffed book, looks like a good read.

It seems to be OOP. Here’s the B&N search.

I don’t know how interesting Murphys Law and Other Reasons Why Things Go Wrong will be as to the origins of the phrase. The article says that the book is a list of amusing corollaries to Murphy’s Law, and the introduction – which contains the George Nichols letter – is ‘extremely brief’. The book only seems to have been the thing that piqued Spark’s interest in finding out where Murphy’s Law came from. It seems like the most in-depth research on the origin is the linked article.

FWIW, I worked at Edwards for four years, and lived in the area for 11 years. I’ve seen the ruins of the sled tracks. This is why I find the article so interesting; I love the history of Edwards/Muroc. I wish I could visit the ruins of The Happy Bottom Riding Club. (I knew Pancho Barnes’s son, and learned to fly at Barnes Aviation.)

[Sampiro]

Errors I’ve caught The History Channel in just over the last few weeks (I don’t keep a list and I’ve forgotten most of them):

*identified Mormon Church President Joseph F. Smith as founder Joseph Smith’s grandson (he was in fact his nephew)

*identified Tutankhamon as the son of Akhenaton and Nefertiti (he was most definitely not the son of the latter and it’s debated whether he was the son of the former)

*stated that King Henry IV of England was the subject of plays by Shakespeare and Pirandello (Shakespeare yes, Pirandello no- his Henry IV was the Holy Roman Emperor of the same [English translation] name- and actually the character is a man who thinks he’s Henry IV)

While these things seem venial, it’s irritating that they earn millions but don’t pay for factcheckers.

[Skywatcher]

@Sampiro

and actually the character is a man who thinks he’s Henry IV)

I’m Henry the fourth, I am
Henry the fourth, I am, I am
I got married to the widow next door
She’s been married three times before
And every one was an Henry (Henry)
She wouldn’t have a Willy or a Sam (no Sam)
I’m her fourth old man, I’m Henry
Henry the fourth I am

[gotpasswords]

And then there was the Modern Marvels ep on movies, and towards the end, when they were getting into digital sound and Dolby, they goofed a caption and changed the name of Ioan Allen (pronounced as Yone) at Dolby Labs to Loan Allen.

I met Ioan a few years ago, and he seemed like the sort of affable guy who’d just laugh off this mistake, but still… How hard is it to do basic fact-checking and being sure you spelled someone’s name properly?