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Murphy's Law
Murphy’s Law suggests the connotation that Murphy is the incompetent actor in the universal probabilities of failure; however, he is the one given credit for the adage when he reported the inept action of another.
The most popular Murphy's Law is the motto that states, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." It is commonly thought that even though this is a negative proposition, the basis suggests an optimistic, or at least a cautionary, attitude as you know that bad things are going to happen.
Murphy’s Law, as it is expressed, was allegedly first used by US Air Force Captain Edward Aloysius Murphy in 1949. The Air Force was testing the effects of G force on the human body at Edwards Air Force Base in California along with Major John Stapp as the test pilot; however, during one of these strenuous tests, the G force was not recorded. Captain Murphy discovered that the gravitational force sensors had been installed incorrectly. He reported his discovery to Major Stapp and added, “If there’s more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will end in disaster, then somebody will do it that way.” Subsequently, Major Stapp coined this maxim as “Murphy’s Law.”
Naturally, similar adages predate Murphy. Interpretations of this universal truth have been found in documents that were written in the early 19th century.
Over the years additional, real or imagined, laws of probability have been credited to Murphy. Please enjoy this selection of Murphy’s Laws that we have added to the joke section at The Irish Gift House.
Murphy’s Law
Anything that can go wrong will.
Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.
Beauty is only skin deep, ugliness goes to the bone.
Celibacy is not hereditary.
The other queue always moves faster.
Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.
A Smith & Wesson beats four aces.
To get a bank loan, you must first prove that you don't need it.
If all's going well, you obviously haven't a clue about what's going on.
Things enjoyable in life are either illegal, immoral or fattening.
Murphy was an optimist!
Murphy's First Law of Motivation
You can accomplish more with a kind word and a shillelagh,
than you can with just a kind word.
Additions to Murphy's Law
You will find an easy way to do it, after you've finished doing it.
Nothing is as easy as it looks.
Everything takes longer than you think.
Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first.
Every solution breeds new problems.
You will always find something in the last place you look.
If you’re looking for more than one thing, you'll find the most important one last.
If it jams, force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway.
When a broken appliance is demonstrated for the repairman, it will work perfectly.
Chaos always wins, because it's better organized.
More Murphy's Laws
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
He who laughs last, thinks slowest.
Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't.
Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.
The things that come to those who wait will be the things left by those who got there first.
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat all day drinking beer.
The shin bone is a device for finding furniture in a dark room.
A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
When you go into court, you are putting yourself in the hands of 12 people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty.
Murphy’s Laws of Selective Gravitation
A falling object will always land where it can do the most damage.
A shatterproof object will always fall on the only surface hard enough to crack or break it.
A valuable dropped item will always fall into an inaccessible place.
The chance of the bread falling with the buttered side down is directly proportional to the cost of the carpet.
In any hierarchy, each individual rises to his own level of incompetence, and then remains there.
Whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.
Anything dropped in the bathroom will fall into the toilet.
Garbage abhors a vacuum. It will grow to fill available space.
We hope that you have enjoyed this collection. By the way, The Irish Gift House, offers a couple of products that have been inspired by Murphy's Law. We feature a Murphy's Law Magnet on our Irish Magnets page that may be found in our Irish Gifts for the Home section. The magnet is metal and it may be used on the fridge or most flat metal surfaces.
We also feature a Murphy's Law Tea Towel that may be found on the Irish Tea Towel page, located in our Irish Gifts for the Kitchen section. The towel is made of cotton, and like the magnet, it is made by Liffey Artefacts in Ireland.
