> always: When you want it to happen, it doesn't (Does anyone know a good > English word for "Vorführeffekt"?).
Sod's Law (British) or Murphy's Law (American English) are pretty close. 1. In any situation, if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. 2. In any situation, even if nothing can go wrong, it will still go wrong. 3. When you haven't planned to get into a situation where Sod's Law could do anything that could possibly bother you in the slightest, Sod's law dictates it will bugger up someone else's day, which will inadvertently ruin your day as well. But I don't think it counts. Sod's Law is more of a joke- a thought game. I don't think there's a good English-y word (or words) for Vorfuhreffekt. The fish says "Demonstration Failure" or "Demonstrating Effect" - neither of which cuts it. It's a good word, and I have heard it suggested that it be adopted into English.... but we all know that while the English language will admit a word like "Doh" - the contestants on "Wheel Of Fortune" wouldn't ever be able to pronounce it without sounding much like a rhinoceros fornicating with a steel shed. However, Yiddish has several inflection-rules (if you can call them that) that were borrowed into English. Probably because it sounds funny. It's a bit difficult to properly connote this in-type, but we can try: "Well, it _was_ doing it!" And finally, as the field circus says: If it happens again, reinstall.
