:) Yeah, I can't remember when I actually looked up the original, I know osmosis had filled the phrase in (complete with nuance) earlier on :)

Although when I use it in mostly the original sense, it actually tends to be something like how I read this post -- a nominal solution, which sounds completely ridiculous, and you describe as a "modest proposal" to make it clear you're not yet advocating it, yet you can't help but wonder if maybe it _would_ be sensible after all.

Mmm. I think to some extent it's a mistake to try to draw a sharp distinction between a surprisingly sensible-sounding wacky idea and a surprisingly wacky serious suggestion; the art lies precisely in aiming consciously for the borderline between the two. If the reader can't quite tell whether I was serious or not, that's a mark of success :-)

LOL. Yeah. I certainly enjoy living on that edge -- I like to measure the success of a joke by the length of time before someone laughs, assuming they eventually do :)

But I have to admit I also use irony in situations like this as a defense; if I come up with a wacky idea, I'll phrase it as a "modest proposal" in order to raise it, but not feel the need to justify it. Which is useful, if it invites some objective consideration of the problem and potential solution, but is also questionable, in that it would be more honest to simply say "I had this idea, is there any merit, or is it _just_ silly?" :)