JP Stapp 1956 "Murphy's Law," no coining claim

[Joel S. Berson]

At 11/6/2009 07:08 AM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>When Nick T. Spark wrote his seemingly (but not
>really!) exhaustive book on the origins of
>"Murphy's Law," he talked with the most famous
>Edwards Air Force Base denizen, General Chuck
>Yeager.  I love Yeager's comment:  "“Look, what
>you’re getting into here is like a Pandora’s
>Box. 
 I’m a victim of the same damn thing.  I
>tell it the way I remember it, and that’s not
>the way it happened.  I go back and read a
>report that I did 55 years ago and I say, hmm,
>I’d better tell that story a little bit
>different.  Well, that’s human nature.  You tell
>it the way you believe it and that’s not
>necessarily the way that it happened.  There’s
>nothing more true than that."  What a great
>summary of the etymythology phenomenon!

Or history in general.

Joel

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org