What's Run up the Flagpole?

Let's run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes it is a catchphrase which became popular in the United States during the late 1950s and early 1960s. It means "to present an idea tentatively and see whether it receives a favorable reaction." It is now considered a cliché.

What would you run up the flagpole?

run (something) up the flagpole

To test out an idea in order to gauge interest or gain feedback. Run your idea up the flagpole before you pitch it to the boss, so that you don't make a fool of yourself.

Where does the saying run it up the flagpole come from?

The expression was coined by American advertising executives in the mid-nineteenth century. The idiom is an allusion to raising the American flag upon a flagpole; the assumption is that if one respects it, one will salute it.