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It means a situation where Win is not at all possible and loss is inevitable.

"There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle." "That's some catch, that Catch-22," Yossarian observed. "It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed. (Paragraph 5, page 55)

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14y ago
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7y ago

The term was created by Joseph Hellar in his novel, "Catch 22." It is a reference to a book of the same name, and it basically means a no-win situation. No matter what you choose, something bad will happen. That's a Catch-22.

Catch 22 is situation in which an action has conquescences which make impossible to pursue that action.

In the novel Catch 22 by Joseph Heller it explains it:

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

A catch 22 is simply a statement made to explain that a person has a choice to make. It is the same as the saying "You're damned if you do and damned if you don't". You have a choice and whichever choice you make is probably a mistake. You pretty much can't do anything right.

A better picture of what is a catch 22 situation can be given from the following statement: "I need my keys to get into my house, but I need to get into my house to take my keys (because I forgot them)". There are two related things you should do and they contradict each other, so you are trapped in a difficult situation.

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13y ago

"The catch-22 of taxing service companies is that they soon move out to tax-free locations."

Origin - double bind / no-win scenario / logical paradox

The phrase "catch-22" is from the 1953 novel Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, and the dark comedy film made from it in 1970, starring Alan Arkin. In the novel, the clearest use of the term is that airmen can't go home if they're crazy, because wanting to go home was not crazy. This is an example of a "double bind", and eventually stole most common uses of that term.

Definitions include :

"A situation in which a desired outcome or solution is impossible to attain because of a set of inherently illogical rules."

"A situation in which a person is frustrated by a paradoxical rule or set of circumstances that preclude any attempt to escape from them."

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15y ago

The meaning of catch-22 is a logical contradiction that stops something happening, in particular when bureaucracy gets in the way of things being achieved.

The phrase comes from the book "Catch-22": a novel by Joseph Heller, in which Catch-22 was the catch caused by contradictory rules: You are not required to fly dangerous missions if you are crazy; It is sane to not want to do something dangerous; if you do agree to do something dangerous you must be crazy; only a sane person would ask not to do something dangerous.

So if you ask not to do a dangerous mission because it would be crazy, you are being rational and therefore still required to do it.

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14y ago

Catch 22? look at the number 22 if you look at it backwards it is still the same, it could have been called catch 11, catch 33 etc. but I guess catch 22 is more catchy! for example, if someone you know has an eating disorder and they ask you, do I look fat? and you tell them they look skinny, well, they will be happy that you said that, but they still won't stop starving themselves, and if you tell them they look fat, they will still starve themselves. Hope this helps.

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13y ago

Satire humor

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Q: What does the phrase catch 22 mean?
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Catch 22? look at the number 22 if you look at it backwards it is still the same, it could have been called catch 11, catch 33 etc. but I guess catch 22 is more catchy! for example, if someone you know has an eating disorder and they ask you, do I look fat? and you tell them they look skinny, well, they will be happy that you said that, but they still won't stop starving themselves, and if you tell them they look fat, they will still starve themselves. Hope this helps.


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