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In neither taste nor precision is any man's practice a court of last appeal, for writers all, both great and small, are habitual sinners against the light; and their accuser is cheerfully aware that his own work will supply (as in making this book it has supplied) many 'awful examples'—his later work
153:
Muphry's Law also dictates that, if a mistake is as plain as the nose on your face, everyone can see it but you. Your readers will always notice errors in a title, in headings, in the first paragraph of anything, and in the top lines of a new page. These are the very places where authors, editors and
108:
Further variations state that flaws in a printed ("Clark's document law") or published work ("Barker's proof") will only be discovered after it is printed and not during proofreading, and flaws such as spelling errors in a sent email will be discovered by the sender only during rereading from the
162:
credited editor Joseph A. Umhoefer with the adage, "Articles on writing are themselves badly written", and quoted a correspondent who observed that
Umhoefer "was probably the first to phrase it so publicly; however, many others must have thought of it long ago." An even earlier reference to the
172:
less abundantly, he hopes, than his earlier. He nevertheless believes that this does not disqualify him for showing by other instances than his own how not to write. The infallible teacher is still in the forest primeval, throwing seeds to the white blackbirds.
450:
Erin McKean described what she calls McKean's Law: "Any correction of the speech or writing of others will contain at least one grammatical, spelling, or typographical error."
329:
The
Official Rules: 5,427 Laws, Principles, and Axioms to Help You Cope with Crises, Deadlines, Bad Luck, Rude Behavior, Red Tape, and Attacks by Inanimate Objects
158:
Bangsund's formulation was not the first to express the general sentiment that editorial criticism or advice usually contains writing errors of its own. In 1989,
242:) published an article criticising his lack of care. In this article, the paper misspelled the same name and was forced to publish an apology of its own.
89:'s law: "Any correction of the speech or writing of others will contain at least one grammatical, spelling, or typographical error." Named after editor
83:
The iron law of nitpicking: "You are never more likely to make a grammatical error than when correcting someone else's grammar." Coined by blogger Zeno.
382:
74:
retaliation: "Any article or statement about correct grammar, punctuation, or spelling is bound to contain at least one eror [
288:
135:(a) if you write anything criticizing editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written;
120:
of the
Society of Editors (Victoria) in Australia identified Muphry's law as "the editorial application of the better-known
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hand-wrote a letter of condolence to a mother whose son had died in
Afghanistan, in which he misspelled the man's surname.
52:
Umhoefer's or Umhöfer's rule: "Articles on writing are themselves badly written." Named after editor Joseph A. Umhoefer.
48:
Names for variations on the principle have also been coined, usually in the context of online communication, including:
546:
536:
491:
100:
of spelling and/or grammar will have spelling and/or grammatical errors." Named after Andrew Bell, a contributor to
649:
59:
correcting an error in another post will contain at least one error itself." Named after Skitt, a contributor to
599:
137:(b) if an author thanks you in a book for your editing or proofreading, there will be mistakes in the book;
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being on sale in Mexico, assuming that "pastries" had been intended and being familiar only with the word "
41:, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written." The name is a deliberate misspelling of "
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221:" with the meaning of nipple coverings. A reader had alerted him to the existence of the law, and
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463:"Is there a name for this law? (spelling nitpick will itself contain spelling mistake)"
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139:(c) the stronger the sentiment expressed in (a) and (b), the greater the fault;
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idea, though not phrased as an adage, appears in a 1909 book on writing by
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34:
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141:(d) any book devoted to editing or style will be internally inconsistent.
90:
86:
650:"Sun apologises for misspelling name of soldier's mother on website"
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Murphy's Law: Lawyers: Wronging the Rights in the Legal
Profession!
254: – Rule of language or linguistic style that breaks the rule
218:
101:
64:
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30:
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described learning of the existence of Muphry's law in the "
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76:
178:
Write It Right: A Little
Blacklist of Literary Faults
128:in his column "John Bangsund's Threepenny Planet".
326:
80:]." Named after editor and writer Jed Hartman.
225:had responded by sending Dubner a Cornish pasty.
691:
33:that states: "If you write anything criticizing
383:"Discussion Forums | Phrase confused #39"
154:proofreaders are most likely to make mistakes.
131:The law, as set out by Bangsund, states that:
683:Now presenting… Muphry's Law, by Ben Zimmer.
517:. Canberra Society of Editors. November 2003
541:. Cambridge University Press. p. 123.
505:
503:
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344:
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315:
313:
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289:"Scenes of editorial life: Muphry's law"
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124:", and set it down in March 1992 in the
677:Breaking Muphry's Law, by Mark Nichol.
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597:
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481:
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228:In 2009, then-British Prime Minister
410:"Language Log: Who is the decider?"
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13:
14:
716:
671:
648:Sweney, Mark (13 November 2009).
598:Dubner, Stephen J. (2008-07-15).
385:. Wordorigins.org. Archived from
293:John Bangsund's Threepenny Planet
149:added the following elaboration:
604:The New York Times: Freakonomics
641:
616:
591:
528:
356:"Hartman's Law Confirmed Again"
600:"Pasties, Pasties, Everywhere"
515:The Canberra Editor Newsletter
482:Bloch, Arthur (May 18, 2000).
475:
455:
423:
401:
374:
1:
624:"Very humble pie for the Sun"
408:Liberman, Mark (2006-04-26).
287:Bangsund, John (March 1992).
269:
265:indicating an ironic reversal
203:in July 2008. He had accused
126:Society of Editors Newsletter
96:Bell's first law of Usenet: "
23:Adage related to Murphy's Law
7:
439:World Wide Words Newsletter
245:
185:
10:
721:
112:
15:
535:Mackenzie, Janet (2004).
259:Hoist with his own petard
16:Not to be confused with
538:The Editor's Companion
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143:
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145:In November 2003 the
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433:(10 November 2001).
412:. Itre.cis.upenn.edu
261:" – Quote from
679:Daily Writing Tips
630:. 13 November 2009
200:The New York Times
55:Skitt's law: "Any
354:(April 4, 2005).
240:tabloid newspaper
191:Stephen J. Dubner
70:Hartman's law of
61:alt.usage.english
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389:on 2 April 2012
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672:External links
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571:(2005-11-12).
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511:"Muphry's law"
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352:Liberman, Mark
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335:Addison-Wesley
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165:Ambrose Bierce
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72:prescriptivist
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486:. PSS Adult.
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323:Dickson, Paul
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299:on 2008-07-20
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705:Copy editing
685:Language Log
659:. Retrieved
655:The Guardian
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632:. Retrieved
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607:. Retrieved
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582:. Retrieved
578:Language Log
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552:. Retrieved
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519:. Retrieved
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466:. Retrieved
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414:. Retrieved
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391:. Retrieved
387:the original
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365:. Retrieved
361:Language Log
359:
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301:. Retrieved
297:the original
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262:
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230:Gordon Brown
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198:
195:Freakonomics
189:
177:
170:
160:Paul Dickson
157:
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146:
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134:
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122:Murphy's law
116:
109:"Sent" box.
107:
75:
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43:Murphy's law
39:proofreading
27:Muphry's law
26:
25:
18:Murphy's law
393:19 November
381:Dr Techie.
252:Fumblerules
91:Erin McKean
694:Categories
661:2009-11-23
634:2009-11-23
609:2008-07-21
584:2008-07-19
554:2008-07-19
521:2008-07-18
468:2014-11-10
445:2009-10-19
435:"Verbatim"
416:2011-12-13
367:2009-02-13
303:2008-07-18
270:References
104:on Usenet.
325:(1989).
246:See also
186:Examples
175:—
628:twitpic
235:The Sun
219:pasties
113:History
102:alt.sex
35:editing
700:Adages
545:
490:
263:Hamlet
180:(1909)
98:Flames
87:McKean
65:Usenet
29:is an
441:(596)
209:of a
31:adage
543:ISBN
488:ISBN
395:2021
211:typo
57:post
238:(a
77:sic
63:on
45:".
37:or
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