# Catch-22 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 29, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-22/171904 "2003-04-29T13:49:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-22/171904/1 "2003-04-29T13:49:25Z")
Oh, moderator C K Dexter Haven. I assume you are staff writer DEX who wrote the reply to the Catch-22 question, and you will be examining this post at some point. I just wanted to take a moment to applaud your response. It was as fine a piece of brief literary commentary that I have read in quite some time. A true joy to read. I think I’m gonna go read this great book again right now. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-22/171904/2 "2003-04-29T14:08:54Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcatch22.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcatch22.html) ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-22/171904/3 "2003-04-29T14:47:49Z")
I think something is missing from Dexter’s answer. My memory of the origin of the phrase “Catch-22” is that comes from a baseball player and his manager. The ball player (whose jersey number was 22) was so poor a catcher that saying “Catch 22” was a contradiction. If player 22 went to catch the ball, he was guaranteed to drop it. If my memory is correct, you will have to go back further than the first printing of Catch-22 to find it. Heller would have simply taken an existing phrase and used it to title his book. ---
**Author:** ![stoyel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@stoyel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stoyel)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-22/171904/4 "2003-04-29T17:17:44Z")
Except that, as the staff report mentions, it was originally intended to be Catch 18. A little nosing around on search engines turned up one site that, oddly, used Catch 18 with a slightly different meaning (or they just didn’t get the concept very well), and the writer expressed surprise that there was a book that was meant to have that title, but she doesn’t mention where she picked up the phrase. I couldn’t find anything to support your baseball-player story, although I haven’t devoted much time to it. Not sure why it’s so unlikely that Heller would have just coined a phrase, though. ---
**Author:** ![Philbuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9a140/32.png) [@Philbuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philbuck)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-22/171904/5 "2003-04-29T17:40:18Z")
The OED gives Heller the credit for the origin of the phrase. Not only was it Heller’s original intention to use “Catch-18” as the title/catch, but also the first chapter of the book was printed in a literary magazine a few years before the book was published, under the title “Catch-18”. It makes interesting reading if you’re familiar with the chapter as it appears in the book, and want to see how Heller’s writing evolved. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_the\_CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_the\_CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_the_CC)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-22/171904/6 "2003-04-29T19:05:41Z")
I’m interested in that. Do you have a cite for it? ---
**Author:** ![Philbuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9a140/32.png) [@Philbuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philbuck)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-22/171904/7 "2003-04-29T21:31:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Earl of the CC \* > \*\*I’m interested in that. Do you have a cite for it? \*\* _New World Writing_, No. 7, 1955. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-22/171904/8 "2003-04-30T07:15:59Z")
I’ve wondered why Catch-22 is a “catch” at all. _Catch_ is one of those versatile words. The eighth noun definition in the AHD is “a tricky or previously unsuspected condition or drawback”, and I assume this is what Heller had in mind. But Catch-22 is more of a contradiction or a paradox than a catch as I understand it. However, I suppose neither of those words is as, heh, catchy. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-22/171904/9 "2003-04-30T11:27:27Z")
It’s a catch by that definition, but it is _also_ a contradiction and a paradox or something. You can be grounded and avoid combat missions if you’re insane, but there’s a catch (Catch-22). If you apply to be grounded, this is proof that you’re sane, and you’ll have to fly. (Catch-22 situation) Any catch that leads to a catch-22 situation is catch-22, and ‘catch-22 situation’ has devolved into just catch-22. Creating your confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-22/171904/10 "2003-04-30T12:19:54Z")
Ah, well, I understand the situation, but I still think it’s not a classical catch. Like: “You can inherit $1 zillion, but there’s a catch. You have to spend one night in a haunted house.” A catch is usually something that will make you think twice about doing it, but not something that makes it impossible. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-22/171904/11 "2003-04-30T21:46:22Z")
But of course, that’s why Catch 22 is the best catch there is. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-22/171904/12 "2003-04-30T22:22:49Z")
Catch-22, as originated by Heller, is sense 7c in the OED 2nd edition. 7a “A catching or entangling question.” is obsolete. But 7b “A hidden element (in a proposal, etc.) designed to take advantage of another person; something concealed with the intention of catching or tripping one up; hence, an unforeseen difficulty or awkwardness, a ‘snag’.” may show an earlier variation. 1914 Daily Express 22 Dec. 2 It is not a toy or a ‘catch’, but a genuine game. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-22/171904/13 "2003-05-01T12:27:09Z")
Thanks for the kind words, **Fiddle** and yes, indeed, “Staff Dex” is I. **Acherner** : \<\< A catch is usually something that will make you think twice about doing it, but not something that makes it impossible. \>\> Generally speaking, yes, as cited by **Expano** , it’s a hidden element, an unforeseen awkwardness. The brilliance of Catch-22 is that the “unforeseen awkwardness” is a total paradox, a circular dilemma. “You can have an appointment to see Major Major” is the offering… “but only a day when he’s out of the office” is a catch. And in this case, it’s a specific catch, namely number 22. One of the beauties of Heller’s assigning a number to this particular catch is the unexpressed concept that there are many, many other types of catch out there. Your example of “spending the night in a haunted house” to inherit, that’s probably Catch-3 or perhaps Catch-8(b)(iv). That is, the categorization of one particular catch, implying the categorization of many other catches, is an incredibly pointed satire on bureaucracy… which abounds in Heller’s book.