What is the origin of the idiom Catch 22?

[Napoleon_Hill_Fan]

Hello everybody. Your forum is good and I'm sure somebody will be able to tell me the origin of the term catch 22? I understand this describes a very tricky situation with no sign of a solution by why is it 22 and not 23?

[Mister Micawber]

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The phrase is taken from the book, the title of which is the same: Catch-22, by Joseph Heller.

Heller coined the phrase to indicate a fictional military regulation which is a cyclical conundrum, or no-win situation.
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Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mister Micawber

[Simon]

I'm not allowed to write here as a student because teachers can answer only. I suppose that the 22 is the diameter of a barrel of a gun. I sometimes meet an abbreviation .22. And I think this is it. If I'm wrong, correct me please.

Best regards,
Simon

[Mister Micawber]

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You are certainly welcome to respond here, Simon. You are right that .22 is a caliber, a measurement of the diameter of a gun barrel-- but it is a very small caliber, not used in military weaponry, so it is inappropriate for this anti-war novel.

I don't think that Heller had any particular meaning in mind-- I think he just chose an arbitrary number. Here is a quote from Wikipedia:

A magazine excerpt from the novel was originally published as "Catch-18," but Heller changed the title after another World War II novel, Leon Uris's "Mila 18", was published.
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_________________
Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mister Micawber