Ask Chaka: i wanna catch fire

Friday, April 14, 2006

so - in tradition of seemingly random phrases:

where did the phrase:

'catch 22'

come from?

Chaka said...: It comes from the novel of the same name. The name comes from a conversation between the main character and the army psychiatrist. The character wants to get sent home from WWII for being mentally ill, and he argues that the fact that he flies his air missions is proof that he's crazy--you would have to be crazy to fly those missions. The psychiatrist responds that, yes, it's true you'd have to be crazy to fly the missions, but the fact that he realizes that and stops flying them shows that he's not crazy. So if you fly the missions, you're crazy, but they can't send you home for being crazy unless you ask. But if you do ask, that shows that you're in your right mind. That's the catch--and for some reason, it's catch number 22.

Not a bad book, incidently, and I haven't spoiled anything by telling you that bit.; 5:00 PM

Ask Chaka