What does the phrase Catch 22 mean? I know it was a book, but I never read it so I dont understand what people mean when they use it as a phrase. Sorry if its a dumb question, guess I should have read the book when I was in high school.
2006-12-01 09:42:11 · 14 answers · asked by diidy 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Other - Cultures & Groups
it's a situation in which you can't win or the requirements for something cancel each other out.
A good example comes from the book:
Any pilot that flies the rickety planes in such dangerous skies in the book "must be crazy" to do so. And as they're crazy they qualify for medical discharge or not flying.
However the second a pilot tries to say that he is crazy or flying would be crazy, he is considered intelligent enough to notice this and is pronounced not crazy: and hence fit for military service.
Another common example comes from certain industries or publishing houses: A publishing house won't publish your work without an editor or agent. No agent or editor will sign you unless you have something published. Catch 22, you're stuck.
2006-12-01 09:46:23 · answer #1 · answered by jleslie4585 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A Catch-22 is a situation in which an individual has to accomplish two actions which are mutually dependent on the other action being completed first. An example of this is 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 also sometimes called the chicken or the egg problems.
2006-12-01 17:47:00 · answer #2 · answered by Tyler P 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Have you ever heard "Damned if you do, damned if you don't" - that's pretty much what Catch 22 means. You are "caught between a rock and hardplace." If you act, something bad will happen. If you don't, then something bad will happen. A no win situation. The book is good too. See info for it here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22
2006-12-01 17:47:53 · answer #3 · answered by Another Garcia 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
a catch 22 is a situation where you have two choices neither of which are good. for example, a few years back there was a hiker who was stuck in the mountains when a rock, much too heavy to lift, fell on his arm. he had to decide whether to cut off his arm and live or lie there and hopefully be rescued. thats a catch 22 for you.
2006-12-01 17:45:56 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's the title of a book by Joseph Heller (a classic)
available at Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Catch-22-Joseph-Heller/dp/0684833395/sr=1-1/qid=1165013189/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-5043305-3890449?ie=UTF8&s=books
2006-12-01 17:49:07 · answer #5 · answered by bata4689 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
a catch 22 is a no win situation, In the book a pilot was trying to get grounded because he couldn't handle anymore bombing missions.He tried to tell the psychiatrist that he was going crazy from it. But the psychiatrist said that if you think you are going crazy , you aren't going crazy because to be crazy you would have to think that you weren't going crazy.
2006-12-01 17:45:47 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Aka a double-edged sword. Each decision you make has its positive and negative consequences.
Its a negative connotation. The persons in a pickle, a trap. Can't decide what the person thinks is right.
2006-12-01 17:45:41 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sort of like Murphy's Law...something will always go wrong. When something looks really good, there is always a catch...a snag.
2006-12-01 17:45:06 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I means something good will happen at the same time something bad happens.
2006-12-01 17:49:15 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is used to describe a situation with no easy solution.
2006-12-01 17:51:32 · answer #10 · answered by Stacye S 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋