"Murphy's Law" (1955)

[Baker, John]

        And, of course, Fred and Ben had already debunked this.  Sorry;
I can only say that they hadn't posted yet when I started my email.

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Baker, John
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2005 3:32 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "Murphy's Law" (1955)

        I don't see the words "If anything can go wrong, it will" in
Murphy in a search on Amazon.

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Wilson Gray
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2005 3:11 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "Murphy's Law" (1955)

"Murphy's Law was first formulated by Samuel Beckett in his novel named,
of course, _Murphy_, which was first published in 1938.

"As I'm sure you are aware, there is no way that I would be able to know
whether Beckett's book is, in fact, the origin of Murphy's Law.
Nevertheless, Beckett's reference to "If anything can go wrong, it will"
is earlier than any other that you cite as a possible origin. So, I
thought that you might appreciate being placed on notice."

-from a letter by James V. Stewart of St. Petersburg, FL, quoted in The
Official Rules and Explanations, compiled by Paul Dickson and published
by the Federal Street Press, a division of Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Springfield, MA: 1999

-Wilson Gray