Catch 22

[Devanshu]

I know it's a novel...but what does it mean? My bio recitation instructor(who also happens to be my prof) uses this phrase all the time...just curious.

[tgpo]

You're screwed either way. If you do it you get hurt, if you don't do it you get hurt. It's a catch 22.

[pacmania_2001]

Exactly what tgpo said, its being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

[Ziffelpig]

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
"That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed.
"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.

[rallynavvie]

Damn that was a good book. Bizarre, but good.

[phonomas]

Yep, right up there with Breakfast of Champions! [Kurt Vonnegut]

[Devanshu]

Yep, right up there with Breakfast of Champions! [Kurt Vonnegut]

I LOVED that book. That and Cat's Cradle.

[phonomas]

howz about Confederacy of Dunces? [John Kennedy O'toole]

[Devanshu]

I've never read it