History Creator / EphraimKishon

* AcidRefluxNightmare: Which leads to a row with his wife, and the next time he dreams of Freud [[AnAesop who tells him]] not to eat heavy food before sleeping. Too late!

* HeroesWantRedheads: Kishon's wife, "the best wife ever", was one. As is his daughter Renana.

* IronicEcho: One [[AcceptableTargets politician]] manages to do this by himself. At first he dismisses the need of his country for a symphony orchestra, since very few people at all will listen to them and concludes "I am no artist, but an economist". Then he insists on building another factory, although the existing ones in this business already produce more than they can sell and are a money drain, talks about his vision of a flourishing industry and ends with "I am no economist, but an artist".

* HasTwoMommies: Taussig has two fathers (and a mother), and both are angry that the teacher dares to criticize their brat.

* ArtisticLicenseFilmSchool: Averted, in one story Kishon demonstrates how different real filmmaking is from this trope: Production runs up costs even if nothing happens on set, continuity is SeriousBusiness, and a simple scene may need twenty shots until it's right. Add a PrimadonnaDirector... let's just say, it's not fun for the poor guy who ended up as an extra (even worse: unwillingly), having to play the role of the random guy who cries "Oy!" when the star steps on his foot.

* LuckyTranslation: The German translation by Friedrich Torberg is said to be better than the original. After Torberg's death, Kishon did the German translations himself, because he was unable to find a suitable replacement for Torberg.

* NamesTheSame: Manfred Toscanini, whom my readers know from earlier stories, but is still not related to the famous conductor.

* LuckyTranslation: The German translation by Friedrich Torberg is said to be better than the original. After Torberg's death, Kishon did the German translations himself.

* OuijaBoard: He once met some people too interested in the occult. Since nothing happened when he joined the session, he gave the glass a little push by himself. The "spirit" they contacted introduced himself as "MR4K?LLL", which the head spiritist [[EpilepticTrees interpreted]] as a spy's code name. Later, they contacted Aaron (Moses' brother) and asked him for his favorite Jews. Answer: "David... Judah Maccabee... Ben Gurion... [[ShamelessSelfPromoter Ephraim Kishon]]..." But is it his fault that Aaron likes reading good satires?

* IAmNotANumber: In the hotel, whenever guests need something, they have to say their room number. Which Kishon finds pretty odd. - And then, he abuses the system, by ordering all kinds of luxuries and giving someone else's room number.

Ephraim Kishon (August 23, 1924 – January 29, 2005) was a Hungarian-Israeli satirist. (As he would've said: If a humorist dies, people call him a satirist.) During his life, he worked as a goldsmith, art historian and journalist, and also made theater plays and movies based on some of his stories. Two films that he both wrote and directed - ''The Policeman'' (1971) and ''Film/SallahShabati'' (1964) - were nominated for an Academy Award (both in the Foreign Language category) but neither of them won. Also liked TabletopGame/{{chess}} (the BoardGame, not the musical) very much.

* ShoehornedFirstLetter: In one story which involves a crossword. The young Israelis trying to solve "South American capital with four letters" try "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires Air's]]", but Kishon demonstrates his superiority by changing it to "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lima Rima]]". (He needs the R for {{Raskolnikov}}.)

Ephraim Kishon (August 23, 1924 – January 29, 2005) was a Hungarian-Israeli satirist. (As he would've said: If a humorist dies, people call him a satirist.) During his life, he worked as a goldsmith, art historian and journalist, and also made theater plays and movies based on some of his stories. Two films that he both wrote and directed - ''The Policeman'' (1971) and ''Sallah'' (1964) - were nominated for an Academy Award (both in the Foreign Language category) but neither of them won. Also liked TabletopGame/{{chess}} (the BoardGame, not the musical) very much.

* BaitAndSwitch: For example, if he describes the Sabras. (An Israeli cactus fruit, or an Israeli born in the country.) "On the outer side, very prickly, but on the inside, completely inedible."

* LongList: When Kishon and his wife go to a supermarket the first time. They end up buying stuff for more than thousand pounds.

* ThePerfectionist: The briefcase maker from Austria

* {{Flopsy}}: Kishon did this (he wrote) when his wife needed gas and there was no other way to get it.

* {{Hollywood}}: He depicts it as a place where everyone is a crook who constantly backstabs and badmouthes everyone else. At the end, one of them manages to do this to ''himself''.

Ephraim Kishon (August 23, 1924 – January 29, 2005) was a Hungarian-Israeli satirist. (As he would've said: If a humorist dies, people call him a satirist.) During his life, he worked as a goldsmith, art historian and journalist, and also made theater plays and movies based on some of his stories. Also liked TabletopGame/{{chess}} (the BoardGame, not the musical) very much.

* PainfulRhyme: Also in the SillyLoveSongs he wrote in one story.

Ephraim Kishon (1924-2005) was a Hungarian-Israeli satirist. (As he would've said: If a humorist dies, people call him a satirist.) During his life, he worked as a goldsmith, art historian and journalist, and also made theater plays and movies based on some of his stories. Also liked TabletopGame/{{chess}} (the BoardGame, not the musical) very much.

* DontCallMeSir: After visiting Austria, in which people are depicted as being completely obsessed with titles (with even the most common everyday nobody insisting on being called the "Dr. Prof. Duke Baron Von ____ The Numbered") Kishon dreams of meeting the late Austrian emperor Franz Joseph, is struck with awe and stutters, searching for the correct title. The anointed one replies: "No need for this nonsense. Call me Franzl."

* BadassGrandpa: Kishon would go to the annual army training even when he was old enough not having to do it anymore

** You can learn everything from ForDummies books, even "How to become president of the USA: In 10 easy steps".

* RidiculousProcrastinator: Several artisans - one plumber, one painter and the most {{egregious}} example would be a carpenter who once promised to make him a table in a few weeks, and delivered after years.

* UsefulNotes/GermanLanguage: His tip for non-Germans avoiding der/die/das mistakes: Just don't say anything.
** GermanDialects: Translator Friedrich Torberg was from Austria, and the text contains a few austriacisms.

* EloquentInMyNativeTongue: Many stories, especially earlier ones, deal with immigrants in Israel having trouble to learn Hebrew. As Kishon quipped, it's almost as easy as [[ChineseLanguage Chinese]], and after three or four years, they'll be perfectly able to say in fluent Hebrew:

* TactfulTranslation: He once did this for a fight between one of his Hungarian relatives and a shopkeeper. He did it so well that they made peace. At the end, he thought he should try the same thing with the USA and the SovietUnion.

* AcidRefluxNightmare: Which leads to a row with his wife, and the next time he dreams of [[FreudWasRight Freud]] [[AnAesop who tells him]] not to eat heavy food before sleeping. Too late!

* FreudWasRight: Whenever he puts on his gloves, his wife say "Freud!", implying: He puts on gloves because he subconsciously plans to murder her, and doesn't want to leave evidence. However, when he ''doesn't'' put on his gloves, she also says "Freud!", because [[MortonsFork he only wants to prove subconsciously that he's beyond suspicion.]]

* DisSimile: Also a trope he was very fond of. Like here:

* NeverLendToAFriend

* NoExceptYes: When on a ship in stormy waters, Kishon is so desperate he prays: "Oh Lord, I'll even forfeit my life... if only you won't let me die." It works, so to speak.