a modest proposal



Like this video? Subscribe to our free daily email and get a new idiom video every day!

a modest proposal

An extreme, unorthodox, and often provocative or distasteful remedy to a complex problem, generally suggested humorously or satirically. (An allusion to Jonathan Swift's 1729 essay A Modest Proposal, in which he suggests that the poor of Ireland could alleviate their woes by selling their children as food.) Here's a modest proposal, then: we create a hunting reserve where the world's wealthiest serve as game for the world's poorest, and for each hunter who makes a successful kill, their home country receives the wealth and assets of their prey.

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Blejan-Cornish
HilleviHIL-le-vee (Swedish), HEEL-le-vee (Finnish)Swedish, Finnish
Tychon-Ancient Greek
LuisaLWEE-sah (Spanish), LWEE-zah (Italian)Spanish, Italian
Svanhildur-Icelandic
Ratna-Indian, Hindi, Telugu, Nepali, Indonesian