propose vs run something up the flagpole

propose

verb
  • To suggest a plan, course of action, etc. 

  • To ask for a person's hand in marriage. 

  • To intend. 

run something up the flagpole

verb
  • To propose an idea or make a suggestion in order to learn the reaction of others to it. 

How often have the words propose and run something up the flagpole occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )