Where does the term "Catch 22" originate?
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From the book of the same name
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Probably no one knows for sure.  One theory I like is that "okay" derives from the Scottish "auch aye", meaning "ah yes". \n\nHere are a number of links that discuss possible origins.
635219
Wasn't able to find anything on how it started or when, but I found a couple of links where you might be able to get some more information.  I did find some speculation on it originating from Maypole dancing or tree dancing, but nothing solid.  Good luck.
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Joseph Heller (1923- ) http://www.levity.com/corduroy/images/heller.gif" (he is cute!) I have read his books and it is worth it just to know how men think.)\n\n"What else is there?"  --from Catch-22\n\n    The American novelist and dramatist Joseph Heller, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., May 1, 1923, began his writing career as the author of short stories but won immediate acclaim with Catch-22 (1961; film, 1970). \nA protest novel underscored with dark humor, Catch-22 satirizes the horrors of war and the power of modern society, especially bureaucratic institutions, to destroy the human spirit.\n\n"Closing Time" the sequel to Catch-22 written in 1994. \n\nHeller's second novel, Something Happened (1974), an expose of the capacity of the business world to crush the individual, is a pessimistic statement about the effects of prosperity on the human condition. We Bombed in New Haven, a play produced on Broadway in 1967, is a tragicomedy similar in theme and mood to Catch-22. Good as Gold (1979) involves a humorous portrayal of Jewish family life and a satire of national politics, including attacks on real people such as Henry Kissinger. God Knows (1984) is a humorous retelling and analysis of the biblical account of King David.\n\n    Heller's works are characterized by a satirical sense of the absurd, speaking out against the military-industrial complex and those organized institutions which seem to manipulate people's lives in the name of reason or morality. Among his later works are the novels Poetics (1987) and Picture This (1988). No Laughing Matter (1966, with Speed Vogel) is a chronicle of Heller's recovery from Guillain-Barre syndrome.\n\nBibliography: Merrill, Robert, Joseph Heller (1987); Nagel, James, Critical Essays on Joseph Heller (1984).
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I'm not familiar with this phrase at all, but I found this song called "Squid Jigging Ground" on the net - which when taken at face value appears to be a song about men fishing for squid ... but I wonder if "squid jigging" might be a euphemism for something else entirely!!! - or is it just me having a filthy mind?!!!   Hmmmmm
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I found this on line,\n\n"Devious Derivations: Popular Misconceptions -- and More than 1,000 True Origins of Common Words and Phrases" by Hugh Rawson (toExcel, Iuniverse.com, 1994, 2000). This reference has some new information on the origins listed here (new information in parenthesis), new origins and what could be the actual origin. \n\n: : 1. Orrin Kendall biscuits, which soldiers ate during the Civil War. \n: : 2. Short for Aux Cayes, a Haitian port that American sailors praised for its rum. \n: : 3. Old Keokuk, a Native American tribal chief who was said to have signed treaties with his initials. \n: : 4. OK stands for "all correct" or the illiterate phrase "Orl Korrect." \n: : 5. U.S. President Martin Van Buren's nickname "Old Kinderhook" -- OK for short. He was a native of Kinderhook, N.Y.\n: : 6. Choctaw word "okeh," (or "hoke") meaning "indeed" (or "It is so.")\n: : 7. Scottish "auch aye", meaning "ah yes." (Or "och aye," meaning "okay.")\n: : 8. From the French maritime phrase "au quai" meaning "at dock", and therefore at last safe from the ravages of the open sea.\n: : 9. '0 killed' - the report of the night's death toll during the First World War. \n: : 10. All clear after the shoot-out at O.K. Corral. \n: : 11. Instruments calibrated at an Observatory at Kew had, affixed to them, a stamp, or impression, to authenticate that calibration. This stamp was O K - Observatory Kew. \n\n: : New origins from Mr. Rawson's book:\n: : 12. The abbreviation is for Oberst Kommandant, German for "Colonel in Command," used by either -- take your pick -- a General Schliessen or Baron von Steuben when initialing letters and orders during the American Revolution.\n: : 13. It comes from the name of a freight agent, Obadiah Kelly, whose initials were widely disseminated on bills of lading.\n: : 14. The abbreviation is for Open Key, popularized by telegraphers in the 1860s.\n: : 15. It comes from the names of Lords Onslow and Kilbracken, who initialed bills after they were read and approved in England's House of Lords. \n: : 16. From a misreading of "Order Recorded" on official documents.\n: : 17. Or from Finnish "oikea," correct.\n: : 18. From the Greek "olla," all, plus "Kalla," good.\n\n: : Professor Allen Walker Read of Columbia University, "finally unveiled its (O.K.'s) origins in a series of magisterial articles in 'American Speech' in 1963 and 1964.What Professor Read discovered was that the abbreviation arose in a humorous manner at a time when Americans were indulging in a great deal of wordplay, including abbreviations, acronyms, puns and intentional mispronunciations and misspellings. The earliest example of O.K. that he unearthed (and it is so far still the oldest known specimen) is from the Boston 'Morning Post' of March 23, 1839. It appears in connection with a note by the paper's editor, Charles Gordon Greene, about a visit to New York of some members of the local Anti-Bell-Ringing Society. (The A.B.R.S., as it was usually known, was itself something of a joke, having been formed the previous year to oppose -- its name to the contrary -- an ordinance of the Boston Common Council against ringing dinner bells.) In an aside, Mr. Greene suggested that if the Bostonians were to return home via Providence, they might be greeted by one of his rivals, the editor of that city's 'Journal,' who 'would have the 'contribution box,' et ceteras, o.k. -- all correct -- and cause the corks to fly, like sparks, upward.'.Thus, it appears that O.K. was invented, possibly by Greene, as an abbreviation of the jocular 'Oll' or perhaps 'Orl korrect,' meaning "All right.' This explanation would seem farfetched, except for Read's finding that it dovetai
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I did some research for your question and this is what I found:\n\nOne of the earliest known use of "in like Flynn" in print is in the December 1946 issue of American Speech. Penn State Proffessor Ed Miller reported that students of his who had served in the army air force during World War II used the expression to mean, "'Everything is OK.' In other words, the pilot is having no more trouble than Errol Flynn has in his cinematic feats."\n\nFrom this we learn several things: (1) The expression was of recent origin. Had it been widely used in the 1930s Miller would not have included it in a list of World War II slang. (2) The term was generally understood to refer to Errol Flynn. (3) It didn't necessarily refer to Flynn's success with women. (4) Then again, maybe Miller's students just didn't feel like proclaiming otherwise in the middle of class.\n\nNo question, a lot of people think the phrase means in like Flynn's you know what, and with good reason. Flynn, a popular film star in the 1930s, became notorious in November 1942 when he was charged with two counts of statutory rape. Though acquitted he was the butt of jokes ever after.\n\nOne film bio none too subtly comments, "Warner Brothers . . . found [Flynn's] popularity not only had held but had a new spurt of interest. A new phrase was added to the English language: `In like Flynn'" (Tony Thomas et al, The Films of Errol Flynn, 1969).\n\nAnother says the post trial Flynn became a "wild man of the mattress. The slogan 'In like Flynn' rose like smoke from the trial and ran laughingly around the globe" (Earl Conrad, Errol Flynn: A Memoir, 1978).\n\nAn Australian playwright (Flynn was born in Australia) even claimed the expression "in like Errol" was current in his country for a time (Alexander Buzo, Rooted, 1973).\n\nBut still. These guys were writing after the sexual revolution of the 1960s. In like Flynn's schwanz? In the 1940s?\n\nAn alternative interpretation comes from A Dictionary of Catch Phrases (Eric Partridge, 1986). Edward J. Flynn (1892-1953) was a New York City political boss who became a campaign manager for the Democratic Party during FDR's presidency. Boss Flynn's "Democratic Party machine exercised absolute political control over the Bronx.... The candidates he backed were almost automatically 'in,' and he himself permanently so," Partridge comments.\n\nNow we have the beginnings of a theory. "In like Flynn" starts as rhyming slang in New York, helped along by the prominence of Boss Flynn. NYC draftees spread it among the troops nationwide with the start of World War II. The phrase gets a boost when the well-publicized travails of Errol Flynn in 1942 give it a double meaning. But its innocent origin allows Cecil's mom to use it without being scandalized.\n\nJust one thing. We have no evidence that "in like Flynn" was used anywhere prior to November 1942.
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People catching lobsters and fish of the coast of somewhere, while they risking there life for the big MONEY$$$!!! Most of the people on the show don't really have a life so they try and make some kind of living.\n\nP.S. Never ever try that kind of stuff, it is like suicide in disguise
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One possible origin for the phrase is an incident said to have taken place during the siege of the Alamo in 1836, when William Barret Travis drew a line in the sand with his sword and urged those willing to stay and defend the fort to step across it. Unfortunately, this heroic story seems to have been invented by a 19th century promoter long after the fall of the Alamo. But the myth itself probably greatly popularized the phrase, so it does count as an origin of sorts even if the incident itself was apocryphal. \n\nAnother possible origin dates back to the time of the Roman Empire. It seems that one of the Macedonian kings, a bit short of cash, decided to invade Egypt, then a Roman protectorate. His army was met at the border by a lone Roman senator named Popillius Laenas, who ordered the king to withdraw. The king began to stall for time, so Popillius Laenas drew a circle in the sand around the king and demanded that the king agree to withdraw his army before he stepped out of the circle. The king, apparently impressed by the senator's nerve (or, more likely, by the Roman Empire in general), withdrew. Incidentally, not only is this account verified by contemporary historians, but it also may be the only known instance of a line drawn in the sand actually stopping someone.
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yes, its a good one, have'nt heard it in a while , thanks for bringing it up... but where did it originate.[ sounds like something out of ww2.]
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I have never heard that term. I was a navy brat for 16 years and had many Filipino neighbors and friends, not once did I hear that term though
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1838, Amer.Eng., "some kind iof alcoholic drink," of unknown origin. \n\nOne of that class of words (e.g. dingus, doohickey, gadget, gizmo, thingumabob) which are conjured up to supply names for items whose proper names are unknown or not recollected. \n\nUsed at various periods for "money," "a professional tramp," "a muffin," "a typographical ornament," "male genitalia," "a Chinese," "an Italian," "a woman who is neither your sister nor your mother," and "a foolish person in authority." \n\nPopularized in sense of "foolish person" by TV show "All in the Family" (1971), though this usage dates from 1905.
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Go on google and type the seach terms - catcher in the rye laurence olivier -   \nYou'll find the exact quote in one of the results.
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It means stay out of my life. Can't remember the origin, probably the 80's.
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Interesting question that others have been pondering on as I see.\nHere's a link that takes the expression back to at least 1946 when used as the title of a book about psychiatric problems provoked in troops in wartime (a topical subject)\nhttp://www.tomfolio.com/bookdetailssu.asp?b=7070&m=106\nSmokey Stover thought on this forum that it dated back to 1940\nhttp://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/46/messages/1021.html\nSomeone elso gives the authorship to Robert Owen, the 18th century textile owner and philanthropist which certainly predates the others http://www.giga-usa.com/quotes/authors/robert_owen_a001.htm\n\nHow am I doing?
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In naval folklore there is a tale that every ship is built containing a single, commemorative "golden rivet"— an idea doubtless adapted from the golden spike that was temporarily driven at the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. The rivet's location is allegedly different for each ship and undisclosed, known only to the crew. Of course no such thing exists: gold is too malleable to use for a rivet; like many urban legends the "golden rivet" is perpetuated for the amusement of "old salts" at the expense of the gullible.\n\nMost often the myth is used as a practical joke or snipe hunt played on junior sailors, exploiting their naivety and natural curiosity with their new surroundings. The prank consists of informing a new sailor of the existence of the "golden rivet", and encouraging him to look for it. After scouring the entire ship without success, it eventually dawns on the junior that he has been the butt of a joke.\n\nIn a crueler addition to the gag, a senior sailor calls attention to the rivet somewhere in the deck plating; then as the junior bends over to look at it, he is given a kick in the backside. Sometimes the snipe hunt is dispensed with altogether, with the senior sailor merely pointing to a spot on the deck and inviting the junior examine it. When pointed out to female guests (especially attractive ones), the point is simply to get the target to bend over.\n\nAs navies around the world are increasingly the target of criticism regarding victimization, the "golden rivet" gag can be seen as a fairly harmless form of initiation.\n\nOther steel structures said to contain a golden rivet include the Forth Rail Bridge and the Empire State Building
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The letters, not to keep you guessing, stand for "oll korrect." They're the result of a fad for comical abbreviations that flourished in the late 1830s and 1840s.\n\nRead buttressed his arguments with hundreds of citations from newspapers and other documents of the period. As far as I know his work has never been successfully challenged.\n\nThe abbreviation fad began in Boston in the summer of 1838 and spread to New York and New Orleans in 1839. The Boston newspapers began referring satirically to the local swells as OFM, "our first men," and used expressions like NG, "no go," GT, "gone to Texas," and SP, "small potatoes."\n\nMany of the abbreviated expressions were exaggerated misspellings, a stock in trade of the humorists of the day. One predecessor of OK was OW, "oll wright," and there was also KY, "know yuse," KG, "know go," and NS, "nuff said."