Catch 22...

[Eurox]

In reply to an answer to the below question... what is a catch 22 situation?

[Marshmallow]

"Catch 22; Most people are familiar with this modern saying and recognise it as implying a "no win situation", one where, whatever happens, there will almost certainly be a bad outcome. Many people will also know that Catch 22 was the title of the 1955 novel by Joseph Heller set on a USAAF WW2 base (in those days it was an Army Air Force). The aircrew are on the edge of breakdown; they must be mad to go on another mission but the fact that they realise that they must be mad means that they must be sane at the same time. They have to continue flying. Truly a "no win situation".

: : : : : The above is as far as any reference book that I have found has ever gone, but why did Heller call his book Catch 22? I found what I think is the answer in, of all places, a review of a TV programme in a daily paper. The programme was about the daylight missions flown by the USAAF over Germany. Many of the aircraft were shot down; others were damaged but managed to get back to England. A very few were so damaged that, although they could still fly, they couldn't make it back to base. Such aircraft were allowed by US military law to divert to neutral countries like Sweden and Switzerland. Once there, the crews were interned but they were out of the war. This near-death scenario of gross but not fatal damage was covered by USAAF general directive number 22. Hence, if you could fall into, or catch, the tiny area of severe but not disastrous damage, all would be well. However the likelihood was that you wouldn't and you'd be either shot down and possibly killed, or back in the war. I think that this is a splendid explanation, somewhat marred by the possibility that Heller is said to have originally planned to call his book "Catch 18"; he changed to 'Catch 22' because Leon Uris's novel 'Mila 18' came out just before Heller's book was published."

*I have to admit that I found the above on the net. Hope it helps!

[I_Tried]

Catch 22 has become a term, inspired by Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22, describing a general situation in which A must have been preceded by B, and B must have been preceded by A. Symbolically, (~B => ~A) & (~A => ~B) where either A or B must come into being first.

Hope that helped  Eurox if not am sorry I tried xxx

[I_Tried]

or in simpler terms :

.
1. a. 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.
b. The rules or conditions that create such a situation.
2. A situation or predicament characterized by absurdity or senselessness.
3. 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.
4. 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.

[Loosehead]

Catch 22 is regularly encountered by graduates looking for their first job after qualifying. Every employer wants experience before they'll give you a job, but you can't get experience until someone gives you a job. Took me over 6 months to get my first job, during that time I was a Highly qualified barman!

[Octavius]

It is generally a no-win situation whereby a person has choices, but no choice leads to success. If an executioner offers the condemned the choice of dying by being hanged, shot, or poisoned, since all choices lead to death, the condemned is in a no-win situation.

[jno]

Heller called it Catch 18, but just before the book came out, another book was published by Leon Uris called Mila 18. So he changed it to Catch 22.

[jno]

... incidentally, I think Loosehead is right and Octavius is wrong: it's a circular argument, not a no-win situation. The aircrew in the book keep being given more missions to fly. They can only escape if they are certified insane. But if they apply to be declared insane so they don't have to do more missions, this proves they are sane, because the missions are obviously dangerous; so they have to fly them.

[luckystrike]

You could also say things like

 

Stuck between a rock and a hard place

 

Between the devil and the deep blue sea

 

You're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't

[Octavius]

Jno it is a specific 'no-win situation' in which two conditions require the other to be met first.

[jno]

Octavius, I think the definition of a 'no-win' situation points to ones like luckystrike suggests: where you get choices but both are unpleasant. A Catch 22 doesn't need choices: you want to do something but can't because a reason why you want to is also a reason why you can't, as in Loosehead's situation - you want a job so you can get experience but you can't get one because you haven't got any experience.