what is the meaning of the term "murphy's law" that people use now and again describing situations

Question

i said to someone that i got into this dark building there was a power failure - went to my car to fetch a torch ,the power came on when i reached the building - she said "murphy's law"

are some people using it wrongly and where does this come from.

Answer 1

The correct, original Murphy's Law reads: “If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it.” This is a principle of defensive design, cited here because it is usually given in mutant forms less descriptive of the challenges of design for lusers. For example, you don't make a two-pin plug symmetrical and then label it “THIS WAY UP”; if it matters which way it is plugged in, then you make the design asymmetrical (see also the anecdote under magic smoke).

Edward A. Murphy, Jr. was one of McDonnell-Douglas's test engineers on the rocket-sled experiments that were done by the U.S. Air Force in 1949 to test human acceleration tolerances (USAF project MX981). One experiment involved a set of 16 accelerometers mounted to different parts of the subject's body. There were two ways each sensor could be glued to its mount, and somebody methodically installed all 16 in a replacement set the wrong way around. Murphy then made the original form of his pronouncement, which the test subject (Major John Paul Stapp) mis-quoted (apparently in the more general form “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong)” at a news conference a few days later.

Within months ‘Murphy's Law’ had spread to various technical cultures connected to aerospace engineering. Before too many years had gone by variants had passed into the popular imagination, changing as they went. Most of these are variants on “Anything that can go wrong, will”; this is more correctly referred to as Finagle's Law. The memetic drift apparent in these mutants clearly demonstrates Murphy's Law acting on itself! -

Answer 2

this will give you some insight, its not the original, never mind murphys rule applys

Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
You will always find something in the last place you look.

No matter how long or how hard you shop for an item, after you've bought it, it will be on sale somewhere cheaper.

The other line always moves faster.

In order to get a loan, you must first prove you don't need it.

Anything you try to fix will take longer and cost you more than you thought.

If you fool around with a thing for very long you will screw it up.

If it jams - force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway.

When a broken appliance is demonstrated for the repairman, it will work perfectly.

Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will use it.

Everyone has a scheme for getting rich that will not work.

In any hierarchy, each individual rises to his own level of incompetence, and then remains there.

There's never time to do it right, but there's always time to do it over.

When in doubt, mumble. When in trouble, delegate.

Anything good in life is either illegal, immoral or fattening.

Murphy's golden rule: whoever has the gold makes the rules.

Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.

A Smith & Wesson beats four aces.

In case of doubt, make it sound convincing.

Never argue with a fool, people might not know the difference.

Answer 3

It is a term used in two ways: to describe irony or things that happen when you really don't want them to. So it was ironic that the lights came on just as were going to do something to fix the situation. Not too sure where it originates from though... it also would've been Murphy's law if something went wrong...

Answer 4

That would indeed be a misuse of the term.

Murphy's law (or "sod's law") is that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. In your case, Murphy's law would have applied if
a) when you went to fetch the torch from your car, the key broke off in the lock (or the remote didn't work)
b) the torch didn't work

Answer 5

Eddie Murphy??

Answer 6

Yes! Hours of entertainment seeing (various forms) of "Christ is God in the flesh and that he was born of a virgin , died on a cross for the sins of man, and that he rose again from the dead and ascended to heaven and that the resurrection is a bodily one."

Answer 7

It means "if things can go wrong, THEY WILL! And at the worst possible time". Roughly speaking it means that sometimes the odds are stacked against you and you can't win no matter what you do!

Answer 8

It’s the law of low expectations……………. like, if anything can go wrong, it will!!!!!