"Murphy's Law" antedating 1943 (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Check with the author.  His email address is at the bottom of this page:

http://www.memoriesofwar.com/veterans/sabel.asp




> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Joel S. Berson
> Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 2:04 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "Murphy's Law" antedating 1943
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
---------------
> --------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "Murphy's Law" antedating 1943
>
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> --------
>
> At 10/6/2009 12:31 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >Dave is correct. I'm skeptical of the cites simply because these new
> >exx.  sound "too good to be true."
> >
> >People who publish their diaries decades later have an annoying habit
> of
> >doing minor verbal editing that can drive lexicographers crazy.
>
> And similarly, I often fear that what they report may have the same
> annoying characteristic of having been constructed or reconstructed
> later.
>
> However, Stephen's 1943 find is from letters; perhaps the manuscript
> is accessible.  Sabel was alive in 2002 when he wrote
>
> "I have compiled them into a book entitled, "Bill's Letters
> Home---World War II". I have given copies to my children,
> grandchildren, and siblings and sold others to my old comrades in
> arms in the 350th Engineers who were with me in the South Pacific.
> The Purdue University Press has published my letters in a book
> entitled "Seeds of Hope" and it is available on the internet or from
> me."  (http://www.pacificwrecks.com/people/veterans/sabel.html)
>
> If what he calls a compilation is a gathering of the originals, which
> were transcribed and published later, it surely is still available
> with his heirs or family.  Perhaps the copies of "Bill's Letters
> Home---World War II" he gave to family are facsimiles!
>
> Joel
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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