The word for today is…
catch-22 (noun) – 1. A situation in which a desired outcome or solution is impossible to attain because of a set of inherently contradictory rules or conditions.
- A contradictory or self-defeating course of action.
- A tricky or disadvantageous condition; a catch.
Source : The Free Dictionary
Etymology : Catch-22 originated as the title of a 1961 novel by Joseph Heller. (Heller had originally planned to title his novel Catch-18, but the publication of Leon Uris’s Mila 18 persuaded him to change the number.) The novel’s catch-22 was as follows: a combat pilot was crazy by definition (he would have to be crazy to fly combat missions) and since army regulations stipulated that insanity was justification for grounding, a pilot could avoid flight duty by simply asking, but if he asked, he was demonstrating his sanity (anyone who wanted to get out of combat must be sane) and had to keep flying. Catch-22 soon entered the language as the label for any irrational, circular, and impossible situation.
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