Prepositions

There is one "rule" of the English language which I think has definitely passed it's use-by date:

Never end a sentence with a preposition.

It's weird. It's awkward. It never really worked in the first place.

Take, for example, a question I attempted to frame in an email today:

"Is there a gift to chip in for?"

For some reason, I decided to re-write that sentence so that it would not end on a preposition.

My first attempt, "Is there a gift for which to chip in?", wasn't too ugly - until I noticed that the sentence still ended in "in".

Now,technically, the word "in" isn't actually a preposition in this context. It's part of the compound verb "chip in". However, it's still vaguely prepositional, so I decided to rewrite the sentence again to make sure there was nothing even resembling a preposition at the end of the sentence:

"Is there a gift for which in to chip?"

It's really ugly, but it was the best I could come up with, given the vocabulary choice.

I could, of course, completely rewrite the sentence using words that don't present me with such difficulties ("Could I contribute towards a gift?"), and some would argue that such a course of action would be the best. Better vocabulary selection in the first place, negating the choice between ugly and incorrect.

All right, now I'm just feeling conflicted. Should I be arguing that prepositions can be at the end of sentences if people want to put them there, or should I be arguing for better vocabulary decisions?

I mean, "Could I contribute towards a gift?" does sound better than "Is there a gift to chip in for?" It's shorter, cleaner, more direct. It uses words that sound like I have an education...

It is a stupid rule, but then again, maybe I should be making more of an effort and rising to the challenge.