Trollope ploy

English

Etymology

Named after an incident from an Anthony Trollope novel in which a woman interprets a casual romantic gesture as a marriage proposal.

Noun

Trollope ploy (plural Trollope ploys)

1. A negotiation technique in which a proposal from another party is deliberately misinterpreted in such a way that it is more to the responding party's liking, with the aim of having the misinterpreted version accepted in the interests of diplomacy.