# What is it called \[when you make a mistake while trying to correct another person's mistake?\].. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 8, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112 "2014-08-08T14:45:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/1 "2014-08-08T14:45:56Z")
When you make a mistake while trying to correct another person’s mistake? And I’m sure this has been answered before, but I’m too lazy to search. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/2 "2014-08-08T14:55:20Z")
Karma. If you’re referring to editing or proofreading, generally people call it Muphry’s Law although this board prefer’s Gaudere’s Law after a moderator who called attention to the phenomenon back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/3 "2014-08-08T14:56:36Z")
Muphry’s Law, eh? Sounds about right. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/4 "2014-08-08T14:57:50Z")
Gaudere’s Law!! That’s what I was trying to think of. Thanks. Unfortunately, since it’s exclusive to this board, the person I wanted to use it on won’t know what I’m talking about. ---
**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:** [August 8, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/5 "2014-08-08T15:11:58Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > Gaudere’s Law!! That’s what I was trying to think of. Thanks. Unfortunately, since it’s exclusive to this board, the person I wanted to use it on won’t know what I’m talking about. It’s not exclusive to this board any more, I don’t think. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/6 "2014-08-08T15:14:22Z")
> [@Jman](#): > > Muphry’s Law, eh? Sounds about right. 😉 Per [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry%27s_law), that term (with that deliberate misspelling) is more than two decades old. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/7 "2014-08-08T15:42:03Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It’s not exclusive to this board any more, I don’t think. [Correct](https://www.google.com/search?q=Gaudere%27s+Law). ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/8 "2014-08-08T15:57:36Z")
To clarify: Murphy’s Law and Gaudere’s Law are not synonymous: Murphy’s Law is: “If anything can go wrong, it will.” Gaudere’s Law is “making an error when calling atention to someone else’s error.” ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/9 "2014-08-08T15:59:03Z")
No one mentioned Murphy’s Law so I’m not sure why you think it needs clarification. ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/10 "2014-08-08T16:16:29Z")
In German, there is a word that means “making things worse when trying to make them better”: verschlimmbessern. ---
**Author:** ![yearofglad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b782af/32.png) [@yearofglad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yearofglad)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/11 "2014-08-08T16:57:07Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > To clarify: Murphy’s Law and Gaudere’s Law are not synonymous: > > Murphy’s Law is: “If anything can go wrong, it will.” > > Gaudere’s Law is “making an error when calling atention to someone else’s error.” I wonder what the Law is for when you erroneously comment about another Law… (To be clear to panache45, Muphry’s Law is a different law than Murphy’s Law, not a poster’s accidental typo.) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/12 "2014-08-08T17:16:30Z")
Please use descriptive thread titles. Title edited to indicate subject. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/13 "2014-08-08T17:20:13Z")
> [@yearofglad](#): > > I wonder what the Law is for when you erroneously comment about another Law… > > (To be clear to panache45, Muphry’s Law is a different law than Murphy’s Law, not a poster’s accidental typo.) I think that, in “correcting” **Inner Stickler** , **panache45** actually illustrates Muphry’s Law. 😃 He was “correcting” a spelling error, right? ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/14 "2014-08-08T17:22:10Z")
> [@yearofglad](#): > > I wonder what the Law is for when you erroneously comment about another Law… > > (To be clear to panache45, Muphry’s Law is a different law than Murphy’s Law, not a poster’s accidental typo.) **Finally** - the thread became self referential. That took ages. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/15 "2014-08-08T18:03:11Z")
Sounds like today’s [xkcd](http://xkcd.com/1405/). ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/16 "2014-08-08T19:33:14Z")
> [@Uniqueorn](#): > > In German, there is a word that means “making things worse when trying to make them better”: verschlimmbessern. On behalf of all people, everywhere, I would like to thank the Germans for giving us this beautiful word that _would_ so accurately describe what my boss does, _if_ there were anything to “bessern” in my work in the first place. I hope everyone enjoyed the ratio of vowels:consonants? For full appreciation, pay attention to the “rschl” part. Though not unusual in German, it is always a fun sight. So thanks German language! You always know just how I feel. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/17 "2014-08-08T19:40:14Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > To clarify: Murphy’s Law and Gaudere’s Law are not synonymous: > > Murphy’s Law is: “If anything can go wrong, it will.” > > Gaudere’s Law is “making an error when calling atention to someone else’s error.” For the win! ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/18 "2014-08-08T22:08:06Z")
Actually, when I read the topic, the word that came to my mind was “ironic”. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/19 "2014-08-08T23:19:56Z")
If you search for “Gaudere’s Law” on Wikipedia, it redirects to “Muphry’s Law.” ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112/20 "2014-08-09T13:22:55Z")
How about “Murphy’s Law”? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-called-when-you-make-a-mistake-while-trying-to-correct-another-persons-mistake/695112.md?page=2)