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

[Rich Lowenthal]

Brooks Atkinson referred to "Finagle's Law" in the April 28, 1964 Times, 
but I didn't find a reference from 1961. (And in the Times on March 17, 
1968, Faber refers to a "Finagle's Law" citation by Atkinson from Feb 1, 
1963, but I didn't find a reference on that date either.)

Of course, the Times search can be pretty iffy, and I might have easily 
missed citations.

The 1964 citation reads, "In architecture Finagle's Law (anything you do 
only makes it worse) reduces the gayest to the dullest."


------ Original Message ------
>From "Alice Faber" <afaber at PANIX.COM>
To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Date 2/15/2025 11:25:21
Subject Re: "Finagle's Law" Not in OED or Historical Dictionary of 
Science Fiction

>I have some of my father's papers and notes, but I don't know if they go that far back. I'll check the boxes I have after lunch.
>
>
>On 2/14/25 1:33 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
>>Interesting topic, Fred. Harold Faber's reference book "The Book of
>>Laws" lists two different versions of Finagle's Law together with
>>citations. I have not double-checked the citations.
>>
>>[ref] 1979, The Book of Laws, Compiled by Harold Faber, Chapter 9: The
>>Laws of Science and Technology, Quote Page 95, Times Books, New York.
>>(Verified with hardcopy) [/ref]
>>
>>[Begin excerpt]
>>FINAGLE'S LAW (1)
>>Once a job has been fouled up, anything done to improve it makes it worse.
>>(Quoted by Brooks Atkinson, in The New York Times, February 1, 1961.)
>>
>>FINAGLE'S LAW (2)
>>If anything can go wrong with an experiment, it will.
>>(Quoted by Gunter Cohn, in Plating magazine, requoting from Product
>>Engineering, April 21, 1958.)
>>[End excerpt]
>>
>>Garson
>>
>>On Fri, Feb 14, 2025 at 1:18 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>>>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
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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