Sods/murphys Law

[dsfbrit]

I spent quite s bit of time trying to explain this to my Thai teacher today and failed miserably - canot find it anywhere - any thoughts??

SOD'S LAW - "inf. If anything can possibly go wrong with a test or experiment, it will. Originally applied to the natural sciences, the use of this law has been extended to cover day to day living and reads simply, 'If anything can possibly go wrong, it will,' to which has been added, 'and it will happen at the worst possible moment.'" The U.S. equivalent is "Murphy's Law." From "British English: A to Zed" by Norman W. Schur (Harper Perennial, New York, 1987).

[withnail]

อะไรที่ผิดพลาดได้ก็มักจะเกิดขึ้น

à-rai têe pìt plâat dâai gôr mák jà gèrt kêun

I'd like to take credit for the translation which unfortunately I can't. (Oxford River Books Eng - Thai Dictionary).

However I do understand it and I'd say it's a pretty good definition. Whatever is unfortunate/wrong tends to happen.

Edited June 19, 2007 by withnail

[funfun]

I spent quite s bit of time trying to explain this to my Thai teacher today and failed miserably - canot find it anywhere - any thoughts??

Get a New Teacher!

[dsfbrit]

อะไรที่ผิดพลาดได้ก็มักจะเกิดขึ้น

à-rai têe pìt plâat dâai gôr mák jà gèrt kêun

I'd like to take credit for the translation which unfortunately I can't. (Oxford River Books Eng - Thai Dictionary).

However I do understand it and I'd say it's a pretty good definition. Whatever is unfortunate/wrong tends to happen.

Thanks for that - I will take it with me to my next lesson. I am going to google for that dictionary as well - haven't seen it on the bookshelves anywhere.

[dsfbrit]

I spent quite s bit of time trying to explain this to my Thai teacher today and failed miserably - canot find it anywhere - any thoughts??

Get a New Teacher!

Ha Ha indeed - but maybe she should get a new student! I have been learning Thai for over 2 years now for 2 hours a week and still cannot speak/understand Thai fluently. Curiously I can read and write Thai pretty(very) well.

When I explained this to her - I expalined it in Thai (we only speak Thai if possible) as the Scenario of:

'If I wash my car during a long drought - then 5 minutes later it will surely rain'. Not really Murphy's law, as Murphys Law is more general, so I came back and tried to find a saying that fitted this pretty closely - and I could only find Sods/Murphy's law.

Oh well - off to find that dictionary Thai dictionary used by withnail.

edit: looks like that disctionary is available in Thailand so will order it tomorrow - thanks again for the replies

Edited June 20, 2007 by dsfbrit

[BambinA]

For Murphy's Law

"If anything can go wrong, it will." ไม่ว่าเราจะทำอะไรก็แล้วแต่ ถ้าหากเราปล่อยให้มีโอกาสที่จะเกิดความผิดพลาดขึ้นได้ รับรองได้ว่าความผิดพลาดเกิดขึ้นแน่นอน

[dsfbrit]

Thanks BambinA,

My Thai wife read both these sentences and said she would probably say it this way rather than the shorter sentence - which surprised me.

The thing is she only speaks Thai, so trying to ask her how to say something means I have to form the question in Thai - so it can get very confusing with a sentence like this!

[withnail]

BambinA Can I ask what it was about the first example that you didn't like or felt was wrong? Your example sounds lovely, but I'm interested as to why you decided on that phrase. Is it a common expression or do you feel that it adds meaning?