Murphy's Law
2
6.6
- noun
- /ˈmɜrfiˌz lɔ/
:
Ley de Murphy
- Oh my god, this is like Murphy's Law.
- whatever can go
Examples
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Whenever I planned a picnic, I always remembered Murphy's Law: if anything could go wrong, it probably would.
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Murphy's law: whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.
Fiction book (2002) -
You remember what I told you about Murphy's Law?
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If anything can go wrong, it will: that was Murphy's Law.
Fiction book (2001) -
Now, for my entire life, I have been a Murphy's Law magnet!
Blog text (27) -
It's hard to keep a job when you're cursed by Murphy's law.
-
Clearly Murphy's Law hasn't been repealed.
Academic text (1994) -
Adhering to Murphy's Law, they went to the wrong one first, then shifted down a series of blacktopped back roads to the correct one.
Fiction book (1994) -
Another concern, a variant of Murphy's Law, is that major landmarks (the Sydney Opera House, Florence's Il Duomo, and London's Big Ben) will inevitably be covered with scaffolding while you are visiting.
Academic text (2006) -
He knows that according to Murphy's Law, any technical issue will happen right before a big presentation.
Synonyms
When things can go wrong, they often do
Surface Forms
Morphology
Murphy's + law
The phrase is an eponymous, cultural idiom: knowing 'law' (a general rule) does not allow a learner to infer the specific content attached to the proper name 'Murphy's'. The meaning 'if something can go wrong, it will' is idiomatic and requires prior exposure, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituents would not reliably derive it.
Etymology
Murphy's Law comes from one popular story about an engineer named Murphy who worked on safety tests; when parts were put in the wrong way he warned that 'if anything can be done wrong, it will be done wrong'. People began calling that bad-luck idea Murphy's Law, and that's why the phrase means 'if something can go wrong, it will go wrong'.