Reader question: “It sounds like a good offer, but there may be a catch”; “Money can buy happiness – with a catch”. Could you explain “with a catch”? My comments: If you catch something, you get hold of it. The police catch the criminal – he can’t escape. The moth is fluttering through the bush and flowers care free. Then he bumps into a spider web and got caught. The invisible spider web is a catch. Figuratively speaking, hence, a catch may refer to any hidden problem or unseen obstacle which may prevent you from getting what you want. “It sounds like a good offer, but there may be a catch.” That means you should be careful with the good offer. It might be a trap. Don’t fall for it. The super market near you, for instance, is offering customers a draw of free coupons to celebrate the holidays, 100-yuan coupons. Very generous, you think. However, there is a catch – you have to purchase 1,000-yuan worth of goods or more to enter the draw. In other words, the free coupons are not what they are purported to be. They are not free. Now, “money can buy happiness – with a catch.” What do I say to that? Well, I say money can buy happiness. All you need to do is to try. “You mean there is a catch?” you ask. “Sure there’s a catch,” as Doc Daneeka would tell Yossarian in Catch 22, every time Yossarian, the pilot, came to ask the doctor why he and Orr, another pilot, had to continue to fly bomb missions even if Orr had gone mad. |