Namely, 24

NAMELY

eponyms (EP-uh-nimz)

words based on or derived from a person's name.

First Known Use: mid-19^th century

“What’s in a Name?”

Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, 2.2­­

24: Murphy's law: the idea, a supposed law of Nature, that anything that can go wrong will go wrong (probably from Edward A. Murphy, 1918-1990, American aerospace engineer; first known use of word—1951).

If you apply that “Murphy’s law,”

You’ll see that it explains

So much of what goes wrong in life—

In many different veins.

You drop a dish; you break a plate;

You slip inside the bath;

You back into another car;

You think you’re good at math—

And then you take the SAT

And learn that you are not

(It seems in mathematics, Yo,

You really aren’t so hot).

But blame it all on Murphy’s law!

A failure? Grain of salt!

And all that’s messed up in your life

Is really not your fault!