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Old 20 October 2008, 06:00 PM
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Hans Off Hans Off is offline
 
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Default Murphy's Law
From another board that I frequent, the supposed origin of the phrase "Murphy's Law"

Quote:
The one I quoted is (apparently) the genuine "Murphy's Law", attributed to Edward Murphy, a scientist working on the American space programme in the 'fifties. He said it after they had blasted a guy down a track on a rocket sled to measure the effect of extremely rapid acceleration on the human body, only to find that no data had been recorded because a technician had assembled all the sensors the wrong way round. His colleagues dubbed it "Murphy's Law".
Smells like UL to me....

??
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  #2  
Old 20 October 2008, 06:18 PM
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This site seems to support the OP and quotes/cites 'The Desert Wings' from March 3rd, 1978.

As does Merriam-Webster.

Etymology Online (scroll down a bit) only says it was first attested in 1958, but gives no cites.

Bartleby only says it derives from my surname.

This entry from the American Dialect Society mailing list has a couple of researchers attempting to track down the genesis of the term, but unsuccessfully. They do admit the popular story seems plausible, but all but impossible to prove.
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Old 20 October 2008, 07:18 PM
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Yet another
mention of Murphy's Law related to early space age testing. I think they should name something after John Paul Stapp. Try getting his self-experiments past a Human Subjects Review Board!

Ali "what about Mrs. Murphy's law?" Infree
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Old 20 October 2008, 07:32 PM
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CannonFodder CannonFodder is offline
 
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Well, there is Stapp's Ironical Paradox.
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  #5  
Old 20 October 2008, 07:49 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CannonFodder View Post
To wit:
"The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle."

My DOYC! Mrs. Murphy was right: Murphy was an optimist!


Ali "ten thousand monkeys typing" Infree

And Stapp was braver than I thought!
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Old 21 October 2008, 12:51 PM
Mycroft Mycroft is offline
 
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As far as I am aware, that is the time when Murphy's Law was first referred to by that name (possibly in newspaper articles about the rocket-sled program).
Before that (as often still is in the UK) it was referred to as Sod's Law, quite possibly from military (notably RAF) slang.
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