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What (who) is Finagle's Law - definition
ANYTHING THAT CAN GO WRONG, WILL—AT THE WORST POSSIBLE MOMENT
Finagles law; Finagle's Law; Finagle; O'Toole's Corollary; Finagle's corollary; Finagle’s law; Finagle factor
Finagle's Law
<humour> The generalised or "folk" version of Murphy's Law,
fully named "Finagle's Law of Dynamic Negatives" and usually
rendered "Anything that can go wrong, will". One variant
favoured among hackers is "The perversity of the Universe
tends toward a maximum".
The label "Finagle's Law" was popularised by SF author Larry
Niven in several stories depicting a frontier culture of
asteroid miners; this "Belter" culture professed a religion
and/or running joke involving the worship of the dread god
Finagle and his mad prophet Murphy.
[Jargon File ]
(1995-12-14)
Finagle's law
Finagle's law of dynamic negatives (also known as Melody's law, Sod's Law or Finagle's corollary to Murphy's law) is usually rendered as "Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment."
finagle
[f?'ne?g(?)l]
¦ verb informal, chiefly US obtain or act dishonestly or deviously.
Derivatives
finagler noun
Origin
1920s: from dialect fainaigue 'cheat'.
Wikipedia
Finagle's law
Finagle's law of dynamic negatives (also known as Melody's law, Sod's Law or Finagle's corollary to Murphy's law) is usually rendered as "Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment."
The term "Finagle's law" was first used by John W. Campbell Jr., the influential editor of Astounding Science Fiction (later Analog). He used it frequently in his editorials for many years in the 1940s to 1960s, but it never came into general usage the way Murphy's law has.
