Huan did such a great job today! He was my only client who knew what Murphy's law was! I love that he had no time for excuses. It gave us the perfect opportunity to play with adages! Have a great week! E MURPHY’S LAW EPONYMOUS ADDAGES Captain Edward A. Murphy was an aerospace engineer at Edwards Air Force Base in 1949. Aerospace engineers design aircraft, spacecraft and satellites to make sure they function according to design. Murphy was a team member of Project MX981 studying the psychological effects of rapid deceleration. One day Murphy noticed that a technician wired an experiment incorrectly and remarked “If there is any way to do it wrong, he’ll find it.” Murphy’s project manager George E. Nichols recorded the eponymous adage as “Murphy’s Law.” An eponym is related to the person for whom something is named. An adage is a short but memorable saying that is considered true by many people. Murphy’s Law is known simply as “If anything can go wrong, it will.” · Do you know what Murphys Law is? YES IF SOMETHING CAN GO WRONG IT WILL · How did you know that? YOU JUST HAVE TO LISTEN TO LEARN THINGS · What Captain Edward A. Murphy’s job? AEROSPACE ENGINEER · Name at least one thing an aerospace engineer designs. DESIGNS SATELITES · What is an eponym related to? THE PERSONS NAME · What is an adage? SAYING MAY HOLD TRUE Project MX981 ended with a high safety record, attributed the observation of Murphy’s Law and the necessity to circumvent it. It became a simple reminder to engineers to be cautious and make sure that every possible outcome is accounted for. “If anything can go wrong, it will,” was then quoted widely in the media and eventually found its way into aerospace advertisements. · What does it mean to circumvent? WORK AROUND SOMETHING · Why would observation of Murphy’s Law lead to a project high safety record? MADE PEOPLE MORE AWARE OF POSSIBLE MISTAKES Murphy’s Law has been widely adapted. In England, the same adage is called “Sod’s Law,” used as a sympathetic reference to an unlucky person. An example of Sod’s law in action can be as simple as “toast tending to land butter side down.” Modern computer hackers observe Hanlon’s Razor that eliminates unlikely explanations for phenomenon with “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” In Mostly Harmless, science fiction author Douglas Adams writes “a common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.” What do these spin off adages mean? THESE ADAGES LOOK TO BLAME THINGS ON SOMETHING
Creative Writing: Now that you have learned about eponymous adages, can you think of a short, but memorable, saying that can be attributed to you, a friend or family member? What would be (Student’s Name)’s Law? THE BEST ANYTHING GOING EVERYONE CAN DO IS TRY. Huan, I think we got off track somewhere. Can you try that again for me? THE BEST ANYONE CAN DO IS TO TRY. Who do you attribute this to? TO MS SPENCER What would this law be called? MS. SPENCER’S LAW Reflect on Murphy’s Law; “If anything can go wrong, it will.” Describe a time when this happened in your life. Did anything positive happen as a result of things going wrong? MY LIFE HAS BEEN REALLY GREAT SO FAR. SO I DON’T THINK MURPHYS LAW APPLIES TO ME SO MUCH. SOME PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO BLAME THEIR PROBLEMS ON. MAYBE THEY NEED TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR MISTAKES. THIS IS BETTER THAN WALLOWING IN SELF PITTY! What would Mom’s law say? YOU ARE SPECIAL AND I LOVE YOU! What would dad’s law say? BE YOURSELF What would Thue’s law say? MAKE THE MOST OF YOURSELF What would Bao’s law say? TRY HARD EVERY DAY What would Huan’s law say? EDUCATE ALL PEOPLE! |