chicken and egg

alternative chicken-and-egg · alternative chicken or egg

1. attributivepluralplural onlyusuallyA situation or case in which it is difficult to distinguish cause and effect, having a circular character.

   From present observation, A and B are needed to make C, and C is needed to make A and B. This chemical cycle has, again, a “chicken and egg” character.

   2012, Charles H. Langmuir, Wally Broecker, How to Build a Habitable Planet: The Story of Earth from the Big Bang to Humankind, 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 419

   2 more examples

   Every other show on TV has a guest panel of comics, so why can’t a drag queen tell the latest Apprentice contestant: “You’re fired”? Or a mime taste the cakes on the Bake Off’s An Extra Slice? The answer is usually that we aren’t in the same network because of cabaret’s lack of presence outside of the live space – the classic chicken-and-egg of TV success.

   2014 October 27, Michael Twaits, “How can we make cabaret a sustainable career in the performing arts?”, in The Guardian

   When it comes to fighting for democracy and climate change – two of Jamie Raskin’s top priorities – the whole thing feels a bit like a game of chicken and egg to the Democratic congressman.

   2022 April 18, Ankita Rao, “Jamie Raskin on the climate crisis: ‘We’ve got to save democracy in order to save our species’”, in The Guardian

   Synonyms: hen and egg