At one of her parties, organized around a flower theme - edible flowers were served to guests who came dressed as flowers - Matta-Clark half-jokingly suggested that Ms. Goodden start a restaurant.

By the end of the first month, most of the canvas is covered with paint, and his wife, who wanders in one afternoon, suggests only half-jokingly that he quit at this point, when the brushwork is still obvious.

But two years ago a friend attended a dinner party where Ms. Bloom was the host and half-jokingly suggested that she write a cookbook.

Jacobs also said Mr. Hankey was so popular, he half-jokingly suggested Matt Parker and Trey Stone pursue a spin-off revolving around the character.

"And play some Miles Davis or Mos Def," he suggested half-jokingly.

He will not say why, other than half-jokingly suggesting that Piazza has a tendency to hit home runs with Vaughn ahead of him.

The poster is still there, and when his mother, Raquel, half-jokingly suggested replacing it with an image of her son, "He was shocked at the idea and told me, 'No way,"' she said.

Two decades ago, the architecture critic Peter Blake half-jokingly suggested that the best way cities could deal with urban problems was to turn all or part of them over to the people at Disney.