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Jun 6, 2003

This week's theme
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This week's words
sixty-four-dollar question
eighty-six
twenty-twenty
deep-six
catch-22

This week’s comments
AWADmail 90

Next week’s theme
Yours to discover

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catch-22

noun: A situation marked by contradiction, absurdity, or paradox, where a solution is impossible to achieve.

[From Catch-22, a novel by Joseph Heller.]

In this World War II novel, an air force regulation states that a man is to be considered insane if he is willing to continue to fly dangerous missions. To be relieved of such duties all he has to do is ask. But one who makes such a rational request shows that he is, in fact, sane. Here is an extract from the novel.

Doc Daneeka said, "He (Orr) has to be crazy to keep flying combat missions after all the close calls he's had. Sure I can ground Orr. But first he has to ask me to."
"That's all he has to do to be grounded?"
"That's all. Let him ask me."
"And then you can ground him?" Yossarian asked.
"No, then I can't ground him."
"You mean there's a catch?"
"Sure there is a catch," Doc Daneeka replied. "Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn't really crazy."

"The players involved say it's too early to talk about it, which leads to a catch-22. If you wait until it becomes a pertinent issue, it may no longer even be an issue."
Tony Jackson; Reds Ponder Rare Slugging Trio; Sebastian Sun (Florida); May 21, 2003.

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