Catch-22

See also: catch-22

English

WOTD – 11 November 2015

Alternative forms

• catch-22

Etymology

Coined by American author Joseph Heller in 1961 in his novel Catch-22, in which the main character feigns madness in order to avoid dangerous combat missions, but his desire to avoid them is taken to prove his sanity.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

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Noun

Catch-22 (plural Catch-22s)

1. (idiomatic) A difficult situation from which there is no escape because it involves mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.

   Synonyms: no-win situation; see also Thesaurus:dilemma

   For us it’s been a real Catch-22: when we have the time to take a vacation, we don’t have enough money, and when we have enough money, we don’t have the time.

   • 1988, E[dward] J[ames] Moran Campbell, Not Always on the Level, [London]: British Medical Journal, →ISBN, page 194:

     Herein lies my personal “Catch 22”; the choice between three hours sleep and some discomfort or six hours sleep and real pain. Usually I choose the lesser evil of insomnia because in addition to the pain at 6am, I am incapacitated by the hangover from the sedative.

Translations

difficult situation

• Czech: Hlava 22, Hlava XXII
• Esperanto: dilemo
• German: Zwickmühle (de) f, Dilemma (de) n, Teufelskreis (de) m, Sackgasse (de) f, ausweglose Situation f
• Hungarian: a 22-es csapdája, csapdahelyzet (hu), kilátástalan​/​megoldhatatlan helyzet
• Polish: Paragraf 22, paradoks literacki, błędne koło (pl)
• Portuguese: beco sem saída
• Swedish: moment 22 (sv) n
• Turkish: kısırdöngü

See also

• CATCH 22 syndrome
• deadlock
• dilemma