Catch-22

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Catch-22 (logic)

Wikipedia

• catch-22

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.^[1]

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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, : 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.