Murphy's Law rules! It’s the maxim that says if somethingNow you know.
can go wrong, it will – and it’s now 60 years old. So just who WAS Mr Murphy?
By Marcus Dunk (Daily Mail)
Last updated at 12:35 AM on 06th January 2009
While this year marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th of the publication of his On The Origin Of Species, another major theory is celebrating an anniversary this year and - if anything - it offers an even more profound insight into the workings of the world than Darwin's theory of evolution.
It was 60 years ago that Murphy's Law was first formerly introduced to the world. Also known as Sod's Law, this is the landmark theory which, put simply, states: If anything can go wrong, it will.
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For Murphy himself, the law and its variations to which he gave his name was the cause of great annoyance. While he preferred to see the law as a principle of good, defensive design - a willingness to be prepared for the worst - he regarded most versions of his Law as 'ridiculous, trivial and erroneous', and said as much before his death in 1990.
Although he may have failed to see the joke, he does have something of a point. While it is easy to label Murphy's Law as the ultimate pessimist's charter, there is an undercurrent of optimism running just beneath the surface of this Law, one that wryly acknowledges that although things will probably go wrong, recognising that fact is the first step in being prepared for when that actually happens.
Faced with a downturn that could rival the Great Depression of the Thirties, Murphy's Law is the perfect creed for our times - a rallying cry of wry pessimism and cold-eyed realism that could be just the ticket to see us through the current downturn.
Unlike the Darwin anniversaries, no formal celebrations have been planned for the 60th birthday of Murphy's Law, but no matter.
In the coming year, if your plans go awry, if disaster strikes, you lose your job, lose your home or find your slice of toast has landed butter-side down on the kitchen floor, know that in your own way you have paid tribute to Murphy and his most universal of laws.
(Via Dorothy King on Facebook.)