"Murphy's Law" (1955)

[Wilson Gray]

"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


On Jul 10, 2005, at 5:37 PM, Sam Clements wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Sam Clements <SClements at NEO.RR.COM>
> Subject:      "Murphy's Law" (1955)
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> My head hurts when I try to read the posts on the ADS-L and the
> current =
> state of the research. =20
>
> I think I tend to agree with Doug Wilson, that the "law" is generic,
> and =
> possibly was attributed to many others prior to Murphy, who may be a =
> bogey.
>
> Fred Shapiro has aluded to this by saying that he has a 1941 cite
> which =
> embodies the sentiment.  Just not called "Murphy's Law" at that point.
>
> I just found a cite "Strauss' Law."  1955.  Another government
> official.
>
> -Chicago Daily Tribune- 12 Feb. 1955, pg 5.  (using Proquest)
>
>>> Adm.(miral) Lewis L.Strauss has found himself in political =
> turmoil more than once since he became chairman of the atomic energy =
> commision, and he says that out of his troubles he has distilled
> enough =
> experience to justify formulation of a new law of knowledge.
>>> "I hope it will be known as Strauss' law," he told a group =
> recently. "It could be stated about like this:  If anything bad can =
> happen, it probably will."
>
> Sam Clements
>