Context

This line is spoken by Jan Morrow (played by Doris Day) in the film Pillow Talk, directed by Michael Gordon (1959).

People today share rides with Uber and rooms with Airbnb, but we doubt we'll ever return to the olden days of Pillow Talk, when people shared phone lines. Jan Morrow and Brad Allen have the same phone line, and they bicker on it constantly. Jan disapproves of how Brad uses the line to call every women in their area code. This begins a classic love-hate relationship that is the foundation of many romantic comedies.

When Brad teases Jan about a man she recently met, she takes the opportunity to insult him, saying "Mr. Allen, this may come as a shock to you, but there are some men who don't end every sentence with a proposition." That's an old-school burn.

Where you've heard it

You've heard this if you've ever flirted with a grammar nerd and they couldn't resist humorously exchanging "preposition" for "proposition." Oh those grammar nerds—they can be such scamps.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

This insult is one of the most funny and intelligent ones we can think of. (We may not end sentences with propositions, but we have been known on occasion to end them with prepositions.)