chicken-and-egg
Which came first?
Chicken-and-egg describes a situation where two things each seem to cause the other, making it impossible to determine which came first: It's a chicken-and-egg problem—does poverty cause poor education, or does poor education cause poverty?
The phrase comes from the ancient paradox about whether the chicken or the egg existed first.
Seemingly absurd truth
- dilemmaForced choice between undesirables
- circularForming a closed curve
- causationProduction of effects
- precedenceSuperior rank or importance
origin · bootstrap · interdependence · mutual · recursion · loop · egg · first
Mutual blocking, no progress
- impasseSituation without resolution
- catch-22Paradoxical no-win situation
- stalemateMutual obstruction preventing progress
- bootstrappingSelf-starting without external input
initialization · dependency · startup · funding · experience · credentials · barrier · obstacle
paradox
Seemingly absurd truth
- dilemmaForced choice between undesirables
- circularForming a closed curve
- causationProduction of effects
precedence · origin · bootstrap · interdependence · mutual · recursion · loop · egg · first · conundrum
deadlock
Mutual blocking, no progress
- impasseSituation without resolution
- catch-22Paradoxical no-win situation
- stalemateMutual obstruction preventing progress
bootstrapping · initialization · dependency · startup · funding · experience · credentials · barrier · obstacle · prerequisite
chicken-and-eggcause and effect
How events produce results
straightforward · unidirectional · one-way · first cause · root cause
chicken-and-eggopen-and-shut
Indisputable, requiring no deliberation
cut-and-dried · black-and-white · no-brainer · self-evident · straightforward
chicken-and-eggsequential
Occurring in succession
linear · step-by-step · chronological · ordered · progressive