What Is CATCH 22?

Today is day 22 of the 21 day blogging challenge that I have been participating in.

Why day 22 of a 21 day challenge?

 

It was so much fun we (our private Facebook Group) decided not to stop at 21 days.  We’re going to continue for 365 days.

 

You may be asking yourself why we would want to do that and I’ll answer the question for you.

 

 

It has been fun!

 

 

It has been beneficial to everyone in the challenge.

 

Can you image how much value you can receive from being able to choose from 100s of blogs all in one location, that are written by entrepreneurs who share the same values, goals and vision you do?

 

 

It’s a total win-win situation for everyone.

 

 

Meeting fellow teammates, sharing information, and getting to know each other has been amazing.

 

You can get in on this action now and be a part of this amazing team.

When I first started thinking about this post and the fact that it is day 22 of the challenge, the phrase CATCH 22 kept coming to mind.  Weird huh?   CATCH 22 has nothing to do with anything I normally write about.

I knew what the phrase CATCH 22 meant but decided to look it up anyway.

As it turns out, I didn’t know the history of how the phrase got started, nor many other phrases we use on a daily bases.

I’m going to share a few of those with you…

Not that they are actually business related…I just thought they were interesting and maybe you will find them interesting too.

CATCH 22

Origin

The title of Joseph Heller’s novel, written in 1953 and published in 1961

The paradox is presented as the trap that confined members of the US Air Force. In logical terms the ‘catch’ was that, by applying for exemption from highly dangerous bombing missions on the grounds of insanity, the applicant proved himself to be sane (after all, that’s what any sane person would do).

If anyone applied to fly they would be considered insane. Either way; sane or insane, they were sent on the missions.

This might be described logically as,  ‘the vicious circle’, ‘a chicken and egg situation’, or ‘heads I win, tails you lose’.

The phrase is now often misapplied to any problematic or unwelcome situation.

 

 

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

Meaning

In difficulty, faced with a choice between two unsatisfactory options.

Origin

This phrase originated in the USA in the early part of the 20th century. It is the American manifestation of a phrase that exists in several forms in other cultures.

The earliest known printed citation of ‘between a rock and a hard place’ is in the American Dialect Society’s publication Dialect Notes V, 1921:

“To be between a rock and a hard place, …to be bankrupt. Common in Arizona in recent panics; sporadic in California.”

The “recent panics” were the events surrounding the so-called US Bankers’ Panic of 1907. This financial crisis was especially damaging to the mining and railroad industries of the western states.

In 1917 the lack of funding precipitated by the earlier banking crisis led to a dispute between copper mining companies and mineworkers in Bisbee, Arizona. The workers, approached the company management with a list of demands for better pay and conditions. These were refused and so many workers at the Bisbee mines were forcibly deported to New Mexico.

Due to the fact that the mineworkers were faced with a choice between harsh and underpaid work at the rock-face on the one hand and unemployment and poverty on the other, that this is the source of the phrase. The phrase began to be used frequently in US newspapers in the late 1930s, often with the alternative wording ‘between a rock and a hard spot’.

 

THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT

Meaning

The trading policy that states a company’s keenness to be seen to put the customer first.

Origin

In the USA, the phrase “the customer is always right” is  associated with Marshall Field’s department store, Chicago (established in the late 19th century) which is now renamed Macy’s.

In the UK, Harry Gordon Selfridge (1857-1947) the founder of London’s Selfridges store (opened in 1909), is credited with championing its use. Selfridge worked for Field from 1879 to 1901.

Both men were dynamic and creative businessmen and they advocated that customer complaints should be treated seriously so that they should not feel cheated or deceived. 

Even though they did not intend for it to be taken literally.

What they were attempting to do was to make the customer feel special by inculcating into their staff the disposition to behave as if the customer was right, even when they weren’t.

JUMP THE GUN

Meaning

Begin something before preparations for it are complete.

Origin

Jump the gun’ derives from track and field races and was preceded in the USA by the phrase ‘beat the gun’ (or pistol). This has been known from the early 20th century, as in this example from Crowther and Ruhl’s Rowing and Track Athletics, 1905:

False starts were rarely penalized, the pistol generally followed immediately on the signal “Get set!” and so shiftless were the starters and officials that “beating the pistol” was one of the tricks which less sportsman-like runners constantly practiced.

There are times when a runner will start the race prematurely before the starter even has a chance to fire his pistol, and thus, that runner is jumping the gun.

I hope you enjoyed this post and you received some value from the information I shared.

My goal in this post is to show you how much fun, educational, and profitable blogging can be.  

Take action now and get in on the fun that we are having and make money while sharing.

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