This one comes from The Independent, from the daily Word column.
The writer of this "column" presented the following:

Whenever "In case" is followed by the word "of " it seems impossible to complete the sentence in a positive way.
He could not find it and put the case to the readers.
We could not find one positive ending either.
Yet there might be.

In case of...........?

When you take the word "of " off, you can go both in positive or negative directions.

I found it interesting so I put it here. Why does this word "of "
block a positive meaning in a phrase completed?

Bran, you're right, I had never thought about this. However, "in case" seems to me more neutral than positive. For the latter, we'd say simply "if"

Negative: In case of earthquake, run to higher ground and cower beneath a desk

Neutral: In case you do win, I'll wait to run up the flag

Positive: If you win I'll be overjoyed

in yet another stunning bit of diegogarcity, I've just been reading Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss, and found this:

"No fruit dies so vile and offensive a death as the banana, but it had been packed just in case. In case of What? Jemu shouted silently to his mother."

-joe (most functions return 0 in case of success and -1 to indicate errors) friday

oh, and then there's this:

That Hamlet, in case of his restoration, might not marry Ophelia is at least nowhere intimated by the poet, and, under the circumstances, by no means self-evident... [Appendix to Furness edition of Hamlet]

Yes, in case of succes crossed my mind when I'd already made the post so I let be to see how quick someone might get it. Quick allright.

Yet the possibilities are limited. Like:

In case of bad weather we'll make sure there will be shelter.
Or:
In case of fine weather....... then what?( strange start of a sentence.)

Hello Dale:
In case of flood run for higher ground and look for a desk that might serve as a raft.

From the Internet

English Idiom: in case of

Origins in the legal phrasing "The case of..." (legal cases are usually negative events)

As an idiom used to denote a contingency the "the" is replaced by "in".

As a rule plans are made for good outcomes and contingencies are made only for the bad.

Internet High Authority
(scroll down to post # 6)

Yes, that sounds reasonable, understandable.

Contingency
Noun
1. A possible event or occurrence or result.

2. The state of being contingent on something.

You mean the "ïn case of....." bears mostly the expectation of something bad going to happen. And "ïn case....etc. etc." is just casual.

-joe (what, me worry?) bfstplk

Hah! I'd already turned back to aesti-hibernation, but I like the madman.One more post won't cause the end the world.
I always wonder what bfstplk could mean and if it's a big secret don't tell.
I always read it as beef steak plank which must be totally wrong.

From a character in Li'l Abner. giyf.

Thank you very much sjmaxq. I will replace the steak association decently by Li'l Abner.

And, to save you some fruitless seaerching, it's a misspelling of btfsplk.

No, Faldage (lots of grins) you did this on purpose?

" There must be some way out of here," said the joker to the thief, "There's too much confusion,- Bob Dylan

>I always wonder what bfstplk could mean and if it's a big secret don't tell.

yes, probably.

>I always read it as beef steak plank which must be totally wrong.

I remember how to misspell it by thinking beef steak polka! Al Capp himself supposedly described it as his version of a “Bronx cheer.”

edit: not an uncommon misspelling
bfstplk - 1270 ghits (the button is notably misleading!)
btfsplk - 867 ghits

-joe (ask Joe) friday

So, who you gonna believe?

Steve Krupp

or

Steve Krupp?

or mebbe Al Capp or Frank Frazetta.