What Do You Call Murphy’s Law in Your Language?
October 16th, 2011
Murphy’s Law is the adage, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong". I wonder if people say this in other countries and what they call it. Is it "Murphy’s Law" in non-English speaking countries or does it have another name? Please let us know what they call it in your language in the comments below.
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14 Responses to “What Do You Call Murphy’s Law in Your Language?”
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October 16th, 2011 at 6:53 pm
In French, it’s called “la loi de Murphy” (same thing but in a different language) or LEM (Loi de l’Embêtement Maximum) a very colloquial way to say “Law of Maximum Annoyance”.
October 16th, 2011 at 7:47 pm
In Italian we say “la legge di Murphy” (singular) and “le leggi di Murphy” (plural).
October 16th, 2011 at 8:23 pm
Cole’s Law: No explanation required.
October 16th, 2011 at 9:26 pm
I haven’t heard of that one Larry. Is Cole’s Law akin to Murphy’s Law? Or is it a dish you’d bring to a picnic?
October 16th, 2011 at 10:37 pm
It’s not always Murphy’s Law in English either! In England they call it “Sod’s Law”.
The original Murphy’s Law, incidentally, ran “Any time there are two ways to do something, and one way is correct but the other way will mess everything up, somebody will do it the wrong way”, and was distinct from Sod’s Law, though they’re now conflated.
And that’s why boxes all say “This way up!” on them.
October 16th, 2011 at 10:56 pm
Hello! I’m from Russia. And in my country Murphy’s Law has the same name or the Law of meanness or the law of bread and butter (if it’s falling, the butter is below).
October 17th, 2011 at 9:40 am
Marina – I love that image – I guess you could name that “The law of buttered bread falling upside-down.”
Uly – some people still open boxes upside-down… which just proves the whole point!
October 17th, 2011 at 8:25 pm
Agnieszka Magnucka wrote:
“Prawo Murphiego” in Polish (literally Murphy’s Law).
October 18th, 2011 at 3:33 pm
Hi Marina – I made a little doodle of the law of buttered bread or Murphy’s Law in Russia. -Mama Lisa
October 20th, 2011 at 9:07 am
Aleksandra Grbić Hrustić wrote:
Marfijev zakon (Serbian) – it’s literally Murphy’s Law.
October 21st, 2011 at 6:19 pm
Linda Alexandra Lysfjord wrote: ”Murphys lov” in Norwegian. (It’s literally Murphy’s Law.)
November 2nd, 2011 at 4:06 pm
In Spain is also la ley de murphy . If anything can go wrong it will !!!Lovely blog. Thanks mama luisa
November 6th, 2011 at 10:39 pm
Any object, if dropped, will roll to the most inaccesible location.
— GregM (Murphy)
March 20th, 2017 at 10:51 am
In Brazil (portuguese language), Murphy’s Law is “Lei de Murphy”.
If something can go wrong, it will is “Se alguma coisa pode dar errado, certamente dará”.