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

[Jonathan Lighter]

Muroc, not Murdoc.

JL

On Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 8:39 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: JP Stapp 1956 "Murphy's Law," no coining claim
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> 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
>
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