An eponymous law is a joking bit of wisdom named after someone, like Murphy’s Law, which states “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Eponymous Laws”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette. Grant, you and I are fans of proverbs.
Oh, yes.
And I have a particular fondness for a type of proverb known as an eponymous law.
That’s a jokey way of packaging a pithy observation and naming it after somebody, either real or fictional.
And of course, I guess the most famous is Murphy’s Law.
Right, which goes…
If a thing can go wrong, it probably will.
Exactly.
And then there’s Muffrey’s Law.
Muffre’s.
Muffre’s Law is when you try to make a correction to somebody else and then make a mistake yourself.
Right. It’s misspelled, right?
Yes.
And there’s something about attributing it to somebody and making it like a scientific law that makes it a little funnier.
Well, is it the mixed registers here? Because the content is a joke, but the name sounds so formal.
Exactly. They’re all kind of wry like that.
And I was trying to think, well, what would Barnette’s Law be?
Oh, no. I don’t know.
Well, I was thinking about it on the way to the studio, and then I was thinking maybe Barnette’s Law is the lane you just got out of is the one that’s going to move faster.
I was going to say Barnette’s Law is no matter what time you leave, you still get there at the same time.
Yeah, that’s probably true.
What would Barrett’s Law be? I don’t have one.
Oh, you have lots of laws. It’s hard to boil it down, though. What would Barrett’s Law be?
Well, the one I tell my son, which is in fewer or coarser words than this, is don’t mess with things.
That’s my law, because you’ll inevitably mess them up.
It’s kind of like leave well enough alone, basically.
Yeah, yeah, and that’s good, using the word mess.
He’s the kid that will push the button that should not be pushed, you know?
He’s a baron.
What can you say, right?
Well, we’d love to hear your own particular eponymous law.
Call us with it.
The number is 877-929-9673 or send it an email to words@waywordradio.org.
Share your wisdom with us.
Horton’s law: “It never always gets worse.”