What is origin of “catch 22 situation” proverb?
From the novel of the same name. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. It’s a great novel published in 1961 and based on the authors experience as a bomber pilot in WWII. Here’s a good summary of the phrase: “The central character in “Catch 22” is the pilot Yossarian, whose all-too-accurate perception of the futility and insanity of war leads him to seek a psychiatric exemption from flying further combat missions. But Yossarian runs smack into what Heller dubbed “Catch 22” (“catch” in this sense meaning “snag”). As Heller put it, “There was only one catch, and that was Catch-22…. If he flew them [more missions] he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to.” edit Actually, the phrase didn’t exist in the air force prior to the novel.
