tbourner Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I'm sure I've heard a proper term for the explanation of sod's law, something along the lines of you only noticing the bad things and therefore thinking that it is only bad results you are getting - ie: the non-failures do occur but you tend to ignore them. Anyone know what it's called? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseys Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Murphy's Law - "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." It's a modern adaptation on Finagle's Law http://www.physiol.ox.ac.uk/jargon/html/entry/Finagle's-Law.html I prefer Hanlon's Razor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wkdtime Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Opposite of Murphy's Law- "Anything that can't go wrong....won't go wrong" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbourner Posted June 23, 2009 Author Share Posted June 23, 2009 Anyone intelligent care to answer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martini Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Anyone intelligent care to answer? Sure. Yhprum's Law. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animal Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Well, one could use Silverman's Paradox: "If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbourner Posted June 23, 2009 Author Share Posted June 23, 2009 http://everything2.com/title/Why%2520strapping%2520buttered%2520toast%2520to%2520a%2520cat%2527s%2520back%2520will%2520not%2520produce%2520infinite%2520power Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt H Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Anyone intelligent care to answer? That is a bit rich considering the quality of your question and explanation of what you want to know. Your title question seems a different question to your explanation of that question. Do you even know what you want the answer to?! You have had the correct answers (disregarding the mess within the first post and simply going from the thread title) from the first two responses, yet seem displeased Bizzare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I agree, it was a sucky question Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbourner Posted June 23, 2009 Author Share Posted June 23, 2009 That is a bit rich considering the quality of your question and explanation of what you want to know. Your title question seems a different question to your explanation of that question. Do you even know what you want the answer to?! You have had the correct answers (disregarding the mess within the first post and simply going from the thread title) from the first two responses, yet seem displeased Bizzare Murphy's Law is something that suggests a very pessimistic view of the world, saying if something can possibly go wrong then it will; I assume in all situations with even the smallest number of repetitions (going beyond pessimism to completely impossible now!). Yet I remember reading something which suggested this was all down to the way you think about the results, that you only remember the negative ones and tend to ignore the times when things went right (a bit like going onto a car forum and thinking the car you're looking into is crap cos it has loads of faults, but actually it's just because people don't tend to write how nothing's broken this week). I'm pretty certain the thing I read had a proper name, like 'someone's principle' or 'the something effect'. I was asking what it was. I said explanation because it explains Muphy's Law, not that I wanted an explanation of what Murphy's Law was! I called it the opposite in the title because titles of threads on here always seem to have some kind of inuendo or slightly incorrect wording to pull in the punters, I didn't want to be different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SupraStar 3000 Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 probably not the right example, but its like the phrase,.. "is your pint half full or half empty." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbourner Posted June 23, 2009 Author Share Posted June 23, 2009 probably not the right example, but its like the phrase,.. "is your pint half full or half empty." The glass is twice as big as it needs to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animal Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. so speaks the engineer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt H Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 so speaks the engineer No, the engineer makes it twice as big as it needs to be. It's the cynic that says that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt H Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I called it the opposite in the title because titles of threads on here always seem to have some kind of inuendo or slightly incorrect wording to pull in the punters, I didn't want to be different. Have you ever thought of a career in Labour?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kopite Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Have you ever thought of a career in Labour?! Haha nice, but mate, he's a BNP-er Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colsoop Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Sounds a bit like retrocausality although that tends to be used to explain Murphy's law. How about Self fulfilling prophecy and the Thomas theorem ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbourner Posted June 24, 2009 Author Share Posted June 24, 2009 Haha nice, but mate, he's a BNP-er grrr. Sounds a bit like retrocausality although that tends to be used to explain Murphy's law. How about Self fulfilling prophecy and the Thomas theorem ? I'd never thought of Murphy's in terms of retrocausality but I suppose it is really, at least in some cases; maybe people spin the toast in a particular way subconsciously on purpose to make it land BSD! I'd never heard of the Thomas Theorem but it sounds a lot like the Self Fulfilling Prophesy anyway, which is linked to Retrocausality. None of them mention the theory that any positive outcomes might be ignored though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rays the roof Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 probably not the right example, but its like the phrase,.. "is your pint half full or half empty." A pint glass with something left in it???? I'm totally lost on this one Ed! Must be Matt's as it takes hiom an hour to sip his lager shandy..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt H Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 I'm totally lost on this one Ed! Must be Matt's as it takes hiom an hour to sip his lager shandy..... To busy entertaining the ladies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rays the roof Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 To busy entertaining the ladies Multi task matey and do both.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt H Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Multi task matey and do both.... Men as well?! Dirty boy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl_S Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Sorry tbourner, I don't know the answer to this one. But I'm very interested in how you intend to use the answer once you find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbourner Posted June 24, 2009 Author Share Posted June 24, 2009 There are instances at work where it'd be handy to be able to say "That's just xxxx", like for example yesterday somebody said "SV {test} always fails in 4U24 though.", and I'm thinking maybe it fails more than others and maybe we're just 'forgetting' the passes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl_S Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Just say, that's just ****. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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