*correction* "Murphy's Law" 1943, not (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

It's a little disappointing that this has turned out to be false.
Although I've been skeptical of some of Stephen's claims over the years,
his research is always interesting, and it wouldn't surprise me if he
did find a significant antedating of Murphy's Law someday (or full/whole
nine yards).

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Stephen Goranson
> Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 4:23 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: *correction* "Murphy's Law" 1943, not
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
---------------
> --------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Subject:      *correction* "Murphy's Law" 1943, not
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> As some recall, I posted from Google Books a published letter dated
> 1943
> containing "Murphy's Law." Long story short, and as Jonathan Lighter,
> Historical
> Dictionary of American Slang editor, and others, suspected, the author
> added
> that when transcribing his letter years later, he told me.
>
> Thanks to Jon, Fred, Bill, Dave, Joel, Ben, Jesse, and to the author
> Bill Sabel and his son Doug, for a variety of helps in getting this
> cleared up.
>
> For those still interested, that leaves the trail of usage of the
> collocation
> "Murphy's Law" spoken by Caltech theoretical physicist, mathematician,
> and
> military consultant Howard Percy "Bob" Robertson, in an interview with
> psychologist Anne Roe some time from January 27, 1949 (his 46th
> birthday, "age
> 46" recorded at the interview) and probably before March 16, 1949
> (based on a
> Dec. 16, 1948 letter offering an interview within 3 months). The
> evidence is in
> Anne Roe's publications, her papers at the American Philosophical
> Society
> archive in Philadelphia, and his papers in the Caltech archive.
>
> Who will antedate 1949?
>
> Stephen Goranson
> http://www.duke.edu/~goranson
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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