Book title - Catch-22 (1970) Discussion

[–] beatnick68-1 20 years ago

Lolita by Nabokov.....the term "Lolita" is now applied to any sort of young, mischievous, seductive woman....i.e. The Long Island Lolita, etc.

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[–] jescci 20 years ago

The titles of some of Shakespeare's comedies have become expressions or cliches:

The Comedy Of Errors
Much Ado About Nothing
As You Like It
All's Well That Ends Well
Measure for Measure

Do you know that guy?
No. But he's a dick.

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[–] jackRabbit2 20 years ago

maybe "Brave New World" but im not sure whether or not that was an expression before the title or after

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[–] fpage-2 20 years ago

That's funny. Brave New World is a phrase taken from another of Shakespeare's plays -- The Tempest. I'm not sure to what extent it was a common saying before the book though.

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[–] RwRobo 20 years ago

Many phrases we still used today are taken from Shakespeare's plays.

The character of Mrs. Malaprop in the Sheridan play "The Rivals" always uses the wrong word in the wrong situation and the phrase malapropism and a malaprop comes from that character.

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[–] The_BirthdaySonggg 20 years ago

It's not a book, but the movie Rashomon.

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[–] paulstain79 19 years ago

It is also a book of short and very good stories

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] eckyftang 18 years ago

I understand it perfectly and I'm 14. Just throwing that out there.

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[–] ecci_sama 18 years ago

I'd just like to mention that I was dying to read Catch-22 when I was twelve, so I certainly get the reference (though I admit it's annoying to use such phrases among peers and only dig myself deeper into the "weird" hole, to say.) Unfortunately, most teens like myself (I'm going on 15 now) aren't so interested in literature. It's all movies, magazines, and sports. It's quite depressing, really, just how easily the mass population is letting go of one of mankind's greatest treasures.

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[–] pen_fan_66 20 years ago

do movie titles count?? if so "the maltese falcon". i've often heard the term maltese falcon used to refer to something fake or useless.

"If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions."

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[–] den_quixote 19 years ago

no longer in use but at one time 1984 was used to describe the eerie big brother paranoia that many felt during the vietnam years.

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[–] Takushi 19 years ago

More than that, there are so many examples from (the book) 1984 itself: Newspeak, Big Brother, Room 101 to name but the few that come to my mind right now. Orwell was way ahead of his time!

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[–] serpentiger666 18 years ago

No bloody kidding.
Doublethink is another one . . .

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[–] without_thinking_twice 19 years ago

this isn't a book title, but the phrase "jumping the shark", referencing the happy days episode where the Fonz jumps a shark tank with his motorcycle. It is used to signify the point in which something good went downhill

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[–] WhenAllWordsFail 19 years ago

"Now is the winter of our discontent" is from Richard III by Shakespeare.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] RowingToSweden 19 years ago

and the "winter of discontent" was not in the nineties, but in the late 70's (78? I wasn't actually alive.. but don't automatically dismiss this post out of hand because of this..) it was the winter of strikes and general economic stagation which led to the 79 Convervative party victory under the leadership of one Margaret Thatcher...

"a point in every direction is the same as no point at all"

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] Rabf 18 years ago

Yes, that is correct. The book was originally going to be titled, Catch 18, but around the same time Leon Uris's book Mila 18 was about to be, or had just been, published. The publishers got Heller to change the title to avoid any confusion. Ironic: Uris's book has gone largely unnoticed, while Heller's has entered the lexicon.

-Cheerio

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[–] den_quixote 18 years ago

Uris's work may not be well remembered or currently popular but "Mila 18" was a best seller as were most all of his works, most notably "Exodus."

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[–] BestofMyHug 19 years ago

Most Oscar Wilde titles.

Even if I set out to make a film about a fillet of sole, it would be about me.

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[–] haldirshadow 19 years ago

Re: Book title
by - CanadianSteve (Sat Apr 22 2006 22:32:12 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse

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I'm a high school teacher, and the sad thing is you can't use catch-22 as an expression with teens because they don't get the reference.

How untrue. I am a high school student, about to become a senior, and not only have I used the phrase before but so have some of my friends.

Also I have a strong feeling that the phrase will become more widely known to more youth in the coming years because of a rising band also called Catch-22. I can only imagine they take their name from the book or phrase, but I'm sure kids will be interested in how they got the name.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] jeffnoodle-1 18 years ago

About 50% of my high school knows what it means, because we did it as a spring production. haha.

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[–] 18 years ago

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