"I Am Serious, and Don't Call Me Shirley"

The phrase "I Am Serious, and Don't Call Me Shirley" is a humorous misinterpretation of a line from the comedy film *Airplane!* (1980). In the movie, the character Ted Stryker, played by Robert Stack, emphasizes his seriousness by saying, "I am serious, and don't call me Shirley." The humor arises from listeners mistakenly hearing "Shirley" as a person's name rather than understanding it as part of the phrase, creating a playful ambiguity. This line has become a memorable quote, often used to inject humor into conversations by mimicking the film’s deadpan style.