A Catch-22 refers to an unsolvable logical dilemma.  The phrase comes from Joseph Heller’s 1961 novel “Catch-22.”  The number 22 has no significance.  Heller originally intended to call it “Catch-18,” but this was rejected by his publisher for being too similar to the title of another recently published war novel.  “Catch-11” was also proposed and rejected, due to its similarity to the film “Ocean’s Eleven” which was released in 1960.  “Catch-17” was then also rejected for similar reasons.  “Catch-14” was rejected because the publisher didn’t think 14 was a “funny number.”  If I were Joseph Heller, I would have just given up.  Clearly, there was no way he would win this battle with his publisher.

The word “slogan” comes from the Gaelic words “sluagh” and “ghairm,” meaning “battle” and “cry.”  A sluagh-ghairm was a battle cry used by Scottish or Irish clans.  Using a slogan in today’s sense as a battle cry is way less intimidating.  A bunch of warriors running down a hill yelling “There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s Master Card!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” is not very terrifying.