You're all missing the basic idea of the song, not to be rude, I missed it at first too. "Murphy was an optimist" is a quote by O'Toole in Commentaries on Murphy's Law. I won't explain it all because it's complicated, but Murphy's Law states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. And Murphy, the man, was an optimist because his law also refers to itself, meaning that Murphy's Law is false and not everything will go wrong. I don't agree at all with that response above about Murphy being a term for alcohol. But most of what was said, I think, is one side of the song's meaning. I'm just saying there's more to it.
@burncide Basically yeah, though not exactly "Murphy's law is false". Murphy says that "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong". O'Toole's commentary basically boils down to, "Oh, plenty more than just THAT will go wrong!" In other words, Murphy is correct, but incomplete, as he limited his viewpoint to only things that CAN go wrong. But things that can't possibly go wrong still do, all the time!
@burncide Basically yeah, though not exactly "Murphy's law is false". Murphy says that "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong". O'Toole's commentary basically boils down to, "Oh, plenty more than just THAT will go wrong!" In other words, Murphy is correct, but incomplete, as he limited his viewpoint to only things that CAN go wrong. But things that can't possibly go wrong still do, all the time!
You're all missing the basic idea of the song, not to be rude, I missed it at first too. "Murphy was an optimist" is a quote by O'Toole in Commentaries on Murphy's Law. I won't explain it all because it's complicated, but Murphy's Law states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. And Murphy, the man, was an optimist because his law also refers to itself, meaning that Murphy's Law is false and not everything will go wrong. I don't agree at all with that response above about Murphy being a term for alcohol. But most of what was said, I think, is one side of the song's meaning. I'm just saying there's more to it.
@burncide Basically yeah, though not exactly "Murphy's law is false". Murphy says that "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong". O'Toole's commentary basically boils down to, "Oh, plenty more than just THAT will go wrong!" In other words, Murphy is correct, but incomplete, as he limited his viewpoint to only things that CAN go wrong. But things that can't possibly go wrong still do, all the time!
@burncide Basically yeah, though not exactly "Murphy's law is false". Murphy says that "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong". O'Toole's commentary basically boils down to, "Oh, plenty more than just THAT will go wrong!" In other words, Murphy is correct, but incomplete, as he limited his viewpoint to only things that CAN go wrong. But things that can't possibly go wrong still do, all the time!