The term is commonly used in the United Kingdom (while in many parts of North America the phrase "Murphy's law" is more popular).
[2] A slightly different form of Sod's law states that "the degree of failure is in direct proportion to the effort expended and to the need for success.
[6] Some examples are traffic lights turning red when a driver is in a hurry, or email software crashing at the exact moment the user attempts to send an important message.
[5] Other examples are dropped bread always landing butter side down, or it raining just after one has washed the car and on the weekend one goes to the beach.
Richard Dawkins said that this shows the idea of Sod's law is "nonsense", as the coin is unaware of the person's wish and has no desire to thwart it.