"You can heave and strain on da wrench till Doomsday and never get a stubborn bolt loosened, but then just as soon as you ask a stronger --- and probably very busy himself --- person to come and help, DAT'S when da blasted bolt actually WILL yield, either when you give a final demonstrative yank on da wrench to show da second person how supposedly stuck da bolt is, or when he himself hauls back on da wrench and said previously-cranky bolt unscrews with little effort on his part, indicating dat your OWN last tug actually HAD cracked it free after all, and so if you had 'just given it one more go' yourself, you actually COULD have gotten da bolt out on your own, without having to interrupt your now-ears-smokingly-annoyed-at-being-needlessly-called-away colleague in da first place."
I wonder if da inventor of da impact wrench had originally felt prompted to do so due to his having frequently encountered Murphy's Law of Bolt-Loosening???
by QuacksO February 14, 2023
"If you 'prepare for the worst' by bringing along extra jackets/gloves, an umbrella, etc., then the skies will be sunny and mild all the time you're 'out 'n' about'. But if you decide to leave all that stuff behind at home and set out on your trip in just your ordinary street-clothes, there'll be a bleepin' MONSOON or HURRICANE!
The morning started out kinda overcast and nippy, so I brought an umbrella, thick hoodie-jacket, and gloves with me when I set out to run some errands around town. Well, naturally, once I got a fair distance from home and thus I didn't wanna traipse all the way back to put everything away again, the sun came out and the day got really warm, and so I was just feverishly lugging all that extra stuff around with me for nothing... classic case of "Murphy's Law of Foul-Weather Gear", I guess.
by QuacksO May 18, 2019
The law states that if you wait in line, usually an hour or more, for a roller coaster, that coaster will break down just before you get on it. The breakdown in this case forces you to miss the ride.
After waiting for 2 hours to ride Kingda Ka, it just HAD to break down on me! Murphy's roller coaster law at work!
by Always Obsessing July 10, 2023
"You can patronize the slots till Doomsday or buy any number of scratch-off tickets and never gain any significant winnings, but then just as soon as you stop playing, the very next player will win big."
Many an addicted gamer believes in Murphy's Law of Gambling, even though it is indeed :"all chance" and thus seldom actually works out that way.
by QuacksO September 12, 2019
"You can follow an 'unpopular' method or procedure 'till da cows come home' and nothing unusual will ever happen to 'justify' or 'vindicate' your unorthodox actions (and you'll likely get continually criticized by others for your chosen behavior), but then the ONE TIME when you eventually 'cave' and actually DO happen to follow the 'standard' or 'acceptable' protocol, THAT'S the solitary 'rogue occasion' when disaster will happen to strike --- something really bad will happen that would not have occurred if you had simply continued to follow your own 'pet' procedure that had seemed better/safer to begin with!"
My "super-long-term-driving-experienced" aunt had gotten fed up with my "back-seat driver" attempts to be helpful by telling her about vehicles that I'd see moving around fairly near our position when we'd be travelling someplace in her car, and so she had eventually asked me to just keep quiet and let here handle the driving herself. Well, of course, within a day or two, Murphy's Law of Exceptions decided to turn and bite me in da butt --- due to a view-obstructing sidewalk-mounted ad-sign, my aunt didn't notice an approaching car, but I did... naturally, that was the ONE TIME that I **didn't** tell her about it because she'd specifically asked me to keep my trap shut on instances like that, and so I'd ASSUMED (there's that word again!) that she'd observed the vehicle bearing down on the intersection. Well, as you might expect, we crashed, and there were multiple injuries in the other car! Can't win...!
by QuacksO March 09, 2019
"No matter how storage-containers are arranged in a stack, the one you want will always be on the bottom, and so you'll have to move all of the others first."
Regardless of whether you arrange a stack of boxes in alphabetical/numerical order from top to bottom or bottom to top, Murphy's Law of stacked boxes will always "get you" --- i.e., da box you'll need will always be ether da first or last one, depending on which way you stacked them, and so you'll always need to take them all down to get to da one you need.
by QuacksO March 01, 2025
"No matter where you stand, da breeze will invariably blow either towards you or in your face, causing you great difficulty in proceeding ahead and/or "cleanly"/effectively performing tasks dat involve/include vapors/particulates/liquids." (Think, Murphy's Law of Cigarette Smoke, or trying to bicycle someplace on a blustery day and da stiff wind keeps switching around so dat it's always hinderingly in your face --- never helpfully at your back --- both on your way to your destination AND on your way back home again!)
P.S. Oh yeah --- and don't even **consider** simply postponing outdoor activities till a "still spell" --- DAT will only mean multitudes of mosquitoes and black flies to torment you and make you WISH for a breeze!
P.S. Oh yeah --- and don't even **consider** simply postponing outdoor activities till a "still spell" --- DAT will only mean multitudes of mosquitoes and black flies to torment you and make you WISH for a breeze!
Two classic examples of da infuriating effects of Murphy's Law Of Wind-Direction would be (1) trying to water your hanging-basket plants on da front porch, but da watering-can's sprinkled droplets keep blowing backwards so dat da water both largely misses your plants and gets you soaking-wet, and (2) trying to employ toss-across collecting when gathering returnables along da highway, but having many of da thrown containers just blow right back onto your side of da road.
by QuacksO August 12, 2019