[Ads-l] "Finagle's Law" Not in OED or Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

[Shapiro, Fred]

I don't see "Finagle's Law" in either OED or the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.  This is often said to have been coined by legendary science fiction editor John W. Campbell.  I don't know of any specific citation to Campbell.  The earliest I find in a few minutes of searching is 1958 (Nuclear Engineering, Dec. 1958, from Internet Archive).

Fred Shapiro



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