in the arms of Murphy
- idiom
- Informal
:
en la mala suerte
- After missing my train and spilling coffee on my shirt, I knew I was in the arms of Murphy.
Examples
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No matter how much I planned, the event was a disaster; I truly was in the arms of Murphy.
-
She joked that she must be in the arms of Murphy every Monday morning.
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I'm in the arms of Murphy!
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Oh no, I'm in the arms of Murphy again!
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After spilling coffee, losing my wallet, and getting caught in the rain, I realized I was in the arms of Murphy.
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Despite my best efforts to avoid mistakes, it seemed that I was in the arms of Murphy during the entire trip.
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When everything went wrong during the project launch, I couldn't help but feel that I was in the arms of Murphy.
Synonyms
16
7.5
To be in a place where trouble happens by chance
7
6.7
Having bad luck, often with money
How Unlucky
Surface Forms
Morphology
in + the + arms + of + Murphy
The meaning ('a run of bad luck' due to Murphy's Law) depends on cultural knowledge of Murphy as the source of unlucky outcomes; the literal parts ('in', 'the', 'arms', 'of', 'Murphy') suggest a physical embrace or location and do not transparently yield that sense. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words but not the Murphy's Law reference would not predict this idiomatic meaning, so the expression is opaque.
Etymology
In the arms of Murphy comes from the idea of Murphy's Law, named after an engineer who said 'if anything can go wrong, it will'. Saying you are in the arms of Murphy creates the picture of being held by Murphy and his arms of 'bad luck', so it means being in a situation where many things go wrong.