105. Catch-22
Nobody likes war and Joseph Heller is no exception. In 1961 he published an antiwar novel entitled Catch-22. The book is about a soldier who hated war and didn’t want to do military service. To prevent soldiers from quitting, the military has a rule which states that you can only get out of the military if you’re crazy. However, they also have a rule (number 22) which says that if you hate war, you’re not crazy, so you can’t get out. In other words, it’s no use trying to leave the military because you just can’t win.
Since that novel was published, the term catch-22 has come to be used to express a no-win situation.