who has the appropiate&good answer for meaning of CATCH-22 ?

Answer 1

A catch-22 is based off the book of the same name. It basically means that you are in a situation in which you can't do something until you have another thing, and in order to get that other thing, you need to do the first thing. It can also describe a situation of which both of the only possible outcomes are equally unpleasant.

Answer 2

Catch-22 has become a term, inspired by Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22, describing a general situation in which an individual has to accomplish two actions which are mutually dependent on the other action being completed first. A familiar example of this circumstance occurs in the context of job searching. In moving from school to a career, one may encounter a Catch-22 where one cannot get a job without work experience, but one cannot gain experience without a job.

Catch-22 situations are sometimes called vicious circles or the chicken or the egg problems.

In math it's called a tautology!!

Answer 3

I read the book when it was new. You can find an old movie version which Jack Nicholson made when young at such sites as movie sites or bookstores like Amazon or Barnes and Noble, etc.

The book was so powerful that it started people using the expression "Catch 22" just as people got a similar feeling from reading Kafka some years before since he put his characters into impossible situations like in the Twilight Zone.

My favorite Kafka story is called "Metamorphose" (SP) in which a man wakes up as a giant roach.

Answer 4

Catch-22 also catch-22 (kchtwn-t-t, kch-)
n.

A situation in which a desired outcome or solution is impossible to attain because of a set of inherently illogical rules or conditions: “In the Catch-22 of a closed repertoire, only music that is already familiar is thought to deserve familiarity” (Joseph McLennan).
The rules or conditions that create such a situation.
A situation or predicament characterized by absurdity or senselessness.
A contradictory or self-defeating course of action: “The Catch-22 of his administration was that every grandiose improvement scheme began with community dismemberment” (Village Voice).
A tricky or disadvantageous condition; a catch: “Of course, there is a Catch-22 with Form 4868you are supposed to include a check if you owe any additional tax, otherwise you face some penalties” (New York).


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[After Catch-22, a novel by Joseph Heller (born 1923), American writer.]
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Catch-22 adj.

Answer 5

Catch-22 situations are sometimes called vicious circles or the chicken or the egg problems.

It's like damned if you do and damned if don't; keeps going on an on without a definitive resolution

Answer 6

How about an example? I work for a court system and one of our duties is to hospitalize people who need it against their will (I know, it sounds awful, but trust me). The catch-22 is, if someone comes in and says they are insane and in need of hospitalization, the community mental health tells them they cannot hospitalize them because they 'recognize their need for treatment.' Seems like a contradiction, but it's the catch-22 for my job.

Answer 7

Since nobody has posted this so far:

The original Catch-22 worked like this:

If you want out of the army, you can do so by showing that you are insane. But by recognizing that one ought not be in the army, one is demonstrating exceptional sanity. So anyone sane enough to want out has to stay in.

Answer 8

whatever decision you make it is a bad one--catch 22

Answer 9

The whole basis of Catch 22 is a circular argument; so you're darned if you do, darned if you don't.

Answer 10

It basically means a no win situation or no way around it.