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5[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/EverydayHeroes https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alterkocker.png]]]]
6[[caption-width-right:350:"Sorry". "[[HypocriticalHumor Oy vey...]]"]]
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11->''"Our Director of Elder Affairs is Al Takaka..."''
12-->-- ''Radio/CarTalk''
13
14A senior citizen with a [[YiddishAsASecondLanguage Yiddish accent]]. In fiction, Yiddish accents are common for old characters, even if their families are of a completely different culture. Alter Kockers are most common in comedies, due to the influence of Jewish comedians. Many BorschtBelt comics had immigrant parents with thick Yiddish accents. Sometimes, a character shown in the future or undergoing RapidAging will inexplicably gain a Yiddish accent and stereotypical Alter Kocker mannerisms, following RuleOfFunny. TruthInTelevision, nearly all depictions of the Yiddish accent are spoken by older characters, particularly those who reached adulthood before 1945, due to cultural assimilation and the destruction of much of Europe's Jewish communities, leading to Yiddish no longer being commonly spoken among secular Jews in the United States, not to mention, the tendency of American Jews to try to avoid sounding ‘Jewish’ and therefore different to non-Jews out of fear of anti-Semitism, and historically many now-offensive stereotypical characters have been given this accent. The adoption of Hebrew as the national language of UsefulNotes/{{Israel}} also served to hasten the decline of Yiddish, now seen as outmoded and an indication of a lack of education.
15
16Now that the older generation of Yiddish English speakers have almost died out outside of Hasidic communities, newer depictions often swap out the Yiddish accent for a working-class New York one with the [[YiddishAsASecondLanguage occasional Yiddish word]] dropped in; the second and third generations are alter kackers now.
17
18Incidentally, the phrase ''alter Kacker'' literally means "old shit[ter]." It's the Yiddish equivalent to the American slang phrase "old fart." Also incidentally, it means the exact same thing in German (Yiddish is closely related to German), though they mostly defecal it into ''alter Knacker'' which just means "old geezer".
19
20Related to InformedJudaism. Compare GrumpyOldMan. Likely to exhibit JewishComplaining and JewsLoveToArgue. See ScratchyVoicedSenior and CurseOfTheAncients for other stereotypes about old people's speech.
21
22----
23!!Examples:
24
25[[foldercontrol]]
26
27[[folder:Advertising]]
28* The Goldfish Under the Couch Cushion.
29* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXTyLAymlVE This]] Coffee Crisp commercial from the early 1990s.
30[[/folder]]
31
32[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
33* In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', when Chazz is under the control of the Society of Light, Jaden duels him using Chazz's favoured Ojama cards against him. One card causes Ojama tokens to appear on Chazz's side of the field, which look like elderly versions of the normal monsters. In the English dub, they sound Yiddish.
34[[/folder]]
35
36[[folder:Comedy]]
37* The trademark character of French comedian Judka Herpstu, better known as Popeck.
38* French-Moroccan comedian Creator/GadElmaleh has the old grumpy Sephardic Jewish grandpa variant in his 2000 stage show ''La Vie Normale'' (''Normal Life'').
39[[/folder]]
40
41[[folder:Comic Books]]
42* ''Silex and the City'' (a StonePunk satire of modern French society) has the "archeo-Yiddish" Madame Finkelstein.
43* Sy Borgman from the ComicBook/New52 Harley Quinn Comics fits this trope, too.
44* ''{{ComicBook/Maus}}'': Vladek is a Holocaust survivor, but that doesn't excuse him from being a grumpy, miserly, ''racist'', and generally unpleasant old man (while he tries to blame it on his experiences, it's pointed out other survivors are nowhere near as stingy as him).
45[[/folder]]
46
47[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
48* In ''WesternAnimation/GuillermoDelTorosPinocchio'', one of the Black Rabbits responsible for carrying souls to the afterlife is a straight-up Alter Kocker.
49-->''"Yer dead, ya'' schmendrick!"
50[[/folder]]
51
52[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
53* Miracle Max and his wife in ''Film/ThePrincessBride''. Miracle Max was, on VH-1's ''I Love The '80s'', referred to as "a little Jewish troll." Max's being played by the then thirty-something Billy Crystal only makes it funnier.
54* Arthur from ''Film/TheHoliday''...though he's one of a handful of old Jewish guys hanging out in LA, and he even refers to himself as an "old Kocker".
55* Creator/MelBrooks is fond of playing these:
56** ''The Two Thousand Year Old Man'' is a very alter kocker.
57** Two characters pretend to be this in ''High Anxiety'' in order to get through airport security, hoping that being as loud and obnoxious as possible will [[WeirdnessCensor make people ignore them]].
58** Yogurt in ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' is played as an old [[SpaceJews Jewish alien]].
59** The Indian Chief in ''Film/BlazingSaddles'' even speaks ''[[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign Hebrew]]''.
60* ''Creator/EddieMurphy'' plays one in ''Film/ComingToAmerica''. The character, Sol, hangs out every day at the barbershop and tells a classic Jewish joke at the end of the credits.
61* In ''Film/{{Snatch}}'', the Jewish gangsters in the opening credits dress up like Alter Kocker, with Hasidic dress and Yiddish accents. Frankie Four Fingers' natural accent, however, is very Yiddish.
62* Julius Levinson in ''Film/IndependenceDay'' is an old Jewish man who kvetches constantly and speaks YiddishAsASecondLanguage.
63* Dan Lauria's character in ''Film/TheSpirit'', Commissioner Dolan, lampshades this trope: "I'm just an alter kocker, ya gotta gimme something to work with here." When the Spirit has to explain to Officer Morgenstern what this means, Dolan complains "Jews these days don't even know their own language."
64* Jackie Mason, in everything he's ever done.
65* Eddie Murphy's character pretends to be one in ''Film/TheDistinguishedGentleman'' when campaigning for Congress when his van drives through a Jewish neighborhood, throwing around Yiddish words. Of course, he is earlier revealed to be fluent in Yiddish.
66-->"I learned it from Morris Elfbein, da Gin King of Miami Beach! He taught me dat, and he also taught me ya don't always haff to haff da best cards ta win da hand."
67* ''Film/{{Sleeper}}'' has two old Jewish ''robots'' who run a clothing shop, complete with yamulke-like head covers.
68* Nana, the feisty old lady from New York in the ''Franchise/{{Madagascar}}'' films.
69* The old man who asks to use the employee bathroom in ''Film/{{Clerks}}''. Despite pestering Dante and grossing him out by asking for a nudie magazine, he's an otherwise friendly guy. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, he ends up traumatizing Katelyn when he dies while masturbating on the toilet and she has sex with his corpse, assuming that it's Dante.]]
70* Many of the characters in ''Film/FiddlerOnTheRoof''
71[[/folder]]
72
73[[folder:Literature]]
74* Creator/IsaacAsimov
75** ''Literature/FoundationSeries''' "Literature/SearchByTheFoundation": Preem Palver and his wife are [[SpaceAmish rustic farmers]] -- and speak with an Immigrant Yiddish accent (which Dr Asimov [[WriteWhatYouKnow had grown up with]]). [[spoiler:SubvertedTrope, because Palver isn't an unintelligent hick, he is [[MeaningfulName First Speaker]] of the Second Foundation.]]
76** ''Literature/UntoTheFourthGeneration'': The Levkovich that Marten is looking for is an old Jewish man, born Phinehas ben Jehudah and married Sarah. His youngest daughter Leah had moved to America with her husband. They begin speaking to each other as "my father" and "my son" (although they are four generations separated).
77* In ''Literature/EthanSuspended'', the title character's grandparents are this.
78* ''Literature/TheGunsOfTheSouth'': Mr. Goldfarb, a German immigrant and an associate of Judah P. Benjamin, is recruited by Lee to translate [[spoiler:the Afrikaner language books]].
79* ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'' has the "old Jewish coot" Miracle Max and his wife, lampshaded by the Jewish-American author Creator/WilliamGoldman (who [[DirectLineToTheAuthor claims he is adapting a centuries-old story]]).
80* ''Literature/TrickyBusiness'' gives us Arnie Pullman and Phil Hoffman, a pair of Miami nursing-home residents. They're certainly old enough for the trope (83 and 81, respectively), and their speech is peppered with little Yiddishisms: "bupkis", "we know from X" instead of "we know X", Word Schmord, etc. They're pretty good arguers, too.
81* In ''Literature/{{Borgel}}'', Borgel's father is an old man who still lives in TheOldCountry and speaks only in Yiddish-accented yells (this is particularly strong in the audiobooks, where the author gives him a heavy Yiddish accent).
82* In ''Literature/ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark'', the humorous story "The Viper" (itself a retelling of an old joke) relies on this trope for the punchline. An elderly woman living alone receives an anonymous phone call from a mysterious man who says "This is the Viper. I'm coming for you." The man keeps calling and saying he's getting closer and closer, panicking the woman. She tries summoning the police, but then hears a knock on the door, slowly opens it...and reveals a little old man standing with a bucket and rag. It's the Viper--and "he vishes to vipe and vash the vindows!"
83[[/folder]]
84
85[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
86* Tommy Solomon (an alien who pretends to be a largely secular Jewish teen) in ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' occasionally acts this way when he drops his cover. Of course, it was a 90s sitcom and they never showed the aliens' true forms, so this instance of the trope was personified by the (also Jewish) Creator/JosephGordonLevitt. No accent, but he'd play up the patronizing crankiness and other mannerisms to a hilt on these occasions.
87* The phrase was mentioned on ''Series/TheNanny.'' Interestingly, despite star Fran Drescher's Jewish heritage, the phrase is mistranslated, likely for the [[RuleOfFunny sake of the joke.]] She instead says that it means "Old Cock...[[LastSecondWordSwap er Spaniel]]."
88* In later episodes of ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'', Cory seems to have matured into a full-blown Alter Kocker (having aged out of his MouthyKid phase) minus the accent, despite only being in his late teens. (The actor who plays him, Ben Savage, is Jewish.)
89* In ''Series/UglyBetty'', when the title character dreamed of her and Daniel in the far future, they seem to have become this. Betty is Latina, and Daniel certainly isn't Jewish either.
90* ''HaPijamoth'', an Israeli kid-sitcom of all things, suggested that "at some age, people just start speaking Yiddish. It's a medical fact."
91* In an episode of ''Series/TheGoodWife'', Will and Diane, in their plot to oust Julian, bring back two equity partners whom they refer specifically as "the alter kockers" in order to get their votes.
92* In the final few episodes of ''Series/{{Soap}}'' Jodie (Billy Crystal) did some past life regression hypnosis and got stuck as a 90 year old Brooklyn Alter Kocker originally from Minsk.
93* On ''Series/NorthernExposure'' transplant Joel mentions them back in his "old country" of Queens, NY from time to time. In one episode, he finds the local Indians using what he knows as Yiddish words, which turns out to be due to memories of a Jewish explorer. One mentions hearing a television show using “aldakaka, that’s one of our words.” When Joel confirms it’s Jewishness, he asks “Does it mean ‘wise and venerable one’?” “Well… yes.”
94* Several older characters on ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', including the Mandelbaums, George's parents, and at times Jerry's own father, Morty. At one point they have an argument which degenerates into nothing but the word "ehh!". Jerry's Uncle Leo is probably the most stereotypical of an old, grumpy Jew. Every single resident of the retirement condo where Helen and Morty lived, The Pines Of Mar Gables/Del Boca Vista, seems to be an Alter Kocker -- especially Morty's arch enemy Jack Klompus.
95* Mayer in ''Series/LostGirl''.
96* Ginsberg's father on ''Series/MadMen''.
97* Mrs. Wolowitz, Howard's mother on ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''.
98* Albert "Pops" Solomon, Beverley's father (Adam's grandfather) in ''Series/TheGoldbergs'' -- he could well be poster boy for this trope, especially since he's played by distinguished Jewish American thespian George Segal.
99* During [[Creator/EddieMurphy Eddie Murphy's]] time as a cast member on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', one of his recurring characters was an elderly version of WesternAnimation/{{Gumby}}, having long retired from show business and become this type of personality in his old age.
100-->"I'm Gumby, dammit!"
101* In ''Series/SoHauntMe'', Yetta, the ghost of the JewishMother who haunts the Rokebey family home, is an old London Jew who talks in exactly this way.
102* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' has an episode titled "Alta Kockers", guest-starring Judd Hirsch and ''Creator/WallaceShawn'' as a pair of elderly, presumably Jewish brothers.
103* Creator/MartinShort's Irving Cohen character from SCTV and SNL, a former tin-pan-alley songsmith, with a pronounced Yiddish accent and mannerisms.
104* Bernie Kibbitz on ''Series/AllThat''.
105[[/folder]]
106
107[[folder:Music]]
108* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_Live_Jews 2 Live Jews]] was a comedic HipHop act from TheNineties based on this trope, comprised of two rappers called MC Moisha (real name Eric Lambert) and Easy Irving (real name Joe Stone). Note that Lambert and Stone, though indeed Jewish, were [[HollywoodOld much younger than the characters they portrayed]].
109* Starting in TheSeventies, Creator/RhinoRecords released several songs by a fictional band called Gefilte Joe & The Fish, with a Yiddish-accented singer doing {{Rock}} songs. Their "hits" included "Walk on the Kosher Side" (a rewrite of [[Music/LouReed "Walk on the Wild Side"]], itself written by a Jewish man, lamenting Jews who turn their back on their heritage) and [[UsefulNotes/JewishHolidays "Hanukkah Rocks"]], a celebration of the Feast of Lights (which was issued on Star-of-David-shaped vinyl).
110[[/folder]]
111
112[[folder:Pinballs]]
113* ''Pinball/MonsterBash'': The Mummy, oddly enough.
114[[/folder]]
115
116[[folder:Radio]]
117* In TheFifties, Creator/PeterSellers played an exaggerated Jewish character on ''Radio/TheGoonShow'', who was based very accurately on Cockney Jews who ''would''' have talked like this. The stereotype that British Jews all spoke in Yiddish-flavoured Cockney London accents took a long time to die from radio and television in Britain.
118* One of the numerous {{Punny Name}}s listed at the end of every episode of ''Radio/CarTalk'' is Al Takaka, Director of Elder Affairs.
119[[/folder]]
120
121[[folder:Real Life]]
122* When Joe Lieberman received the Democrat nomination for Vice-President, the New York Observer headline about the reaction to the first Jew on a major party ticket was “Alte Kocke Shaken, Pishers (roughly “greenhorns” or “whippersnappers”) Are Thrilled”.
123[[/folder]]
124
125
126[[folder:Theatre]]
127* Mushnik from ''Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors'', though some cottage productions give him a German accent just for fun.
128** This was how Gravis Mushnik was played by Mel Welles in [[Film/TheLittleShopOfHorrors the original film]]..."Gravis" sounds like an Old Country name -- enough to be used as the surname of Creator/AndyKaufman's character in ''Series/{{Taxi}}'' -- but it is rather of a piece with the "sick" jokes in the film, many of which reference illness and medicine, the last particularly in the scene involving Seymour's mother. (Yes, he has a mother; let a man start singing, and all of a sudden he thinks he's an orphan...and he never calls.)
129* Very blatantly [[Creator/JohnMulaney John Mulaney]]'s character, George St. Geegland, of ''Theatre/OhHello''.
130-->'''George:''' [[LampshadeHanging I am neither Jewish, nor a woman, but like many men over the age of 70, I have reached that point in life where I am somehow both.]].\
131[[/folder]]
132
133[[folder:Webcomics]]
134* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]], then doubly subverted by [[http://eheroes.thecomicseries.com/comics/252/ Jakob]] in ''Webcomic/EverydayHeroes''.
135* ''Webcomic/VampireGirl'': Sigfred N. [=LeRoy=]. Given that it's a webcomic, one wouldn't know, but WordOfGod is that his voice would sound similar to John Byner's impersonation of Jackie Mason. His word balloons do indicate that he ends his sentences with a bit of a flourish.
136[[/folder]]
137
138[[folder:Web Original]]
139* There is an entire website dedicated to this concept: [[http://oldjewstellingjokes.com/ Old Jews Telling Jokes]].
140* Doggy in his "review" show spin-off of ''Webcomic/TheCartoonChroniclesofConroyCat''.
141[[/folder]]
142
143[[folder:Web Videos]]
144* Iroh in ''WebVideo/AvatarTheAbridgedSeries''. Bear in mind, [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender the original]] has a Japanese accent while ''[[FridgeLogic everyone else in the Fire Nation]]'' has a [[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents standard American one]].
145[[/folder]]
146
147[[folder:Western Animation]]
148* Pa Grape in ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'', which is kind of odd because he was originally introduced as the patriarch of a hillbilly family, and none of the other members of the family sounded Jewish. This may be from the limitations of placing most characters on the shoulders of Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki, due to limiting most characters to whoever they can record in-house.
149* One of Grandpa's housemates at the retirement home in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' is known solely to fans by the nickname "Old Jewish Man" on the basis of his accent.
150-->'''Old Jewish Woman:''' Our son Schlomo is working on a kibbutz in Haifa, and we're schlepping him some kreplach.\
151'''Old Jewish Man:''' Yep, we're Jewish, alright!
152* Popenlocken from the episode 'King Tooten Pooten' of ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', despite being of the ancient race that supposedly enslaved the Jews, speaks in this accent, complete with Yiddish phrases, like threatening to potch his grandson's tuchas.
153* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'', Boris and Minka, Tommy Pickles' maternal grandparents, who actually are Eastern European (presumably Russian) Jews.
154* Walter Wolf, the scheming nemesis of Slappy Squirrel on ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}''. Slappy too. Even if she isn't explicitly Jewish, she's been in show business so long she's picked it up.
155* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', [[PlanetOfHats every single]] [[SpaceJews Decapodian]] is, at least to some extent, an Alter Kocker, though Harold Zoid and the ambassador are straight examples.
156* Truffles from ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}''.
157* In the two-part ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Do the Handicapped Go To Hell?"/"Probably", Pope John Paul II speaks this way -- despite being the leader of the ''Catholic Church''!
158* Murray from ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow''.
159* In the ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' episode where [[SickEpisode Rocko gets appendicitis]], he's being taken to his hospital room, and an old goat with this accent says, "So you think you're sicker than me, eh? I've got boils on my bottom bigger than you! You wanna see?"
160** He appears again during the "Spring Cleaning" CrowdSong in [[GreenAesop "Zanzibar."]]
161** Also, Crazy Aunt Gretchen. To be fair, she ''is'' in an aquarium tank way too small for her.
162** A gag character of a spider on a toilet in "Leapfrogs" is portrayed as this: "Hey, vad iz dis, a sideshow?!"
163* On ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', Vlad Plasmius's ghostly hench-vultures all have Alter Kocker voices and mannerisms.
164-->'''Vlad:''' I don't suppose you could move any faster?\
165'''Vulture Ghost:''' We are two thousands and eight years old, be happy we're moving at all!
166* Mervin the magician in ''Series/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'' episode "King Mario of Cramalot".
167* ''WesternAnimation/{{Mixels}}'' has Nurp-Naut, a character made up of two entities: a baby and an elder, in one body with a swapping head. To emphasize that Naut is the elder, he's given this accent.
168* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' where Mr. Mxyzptlk's fifth-dimensional powers are taken away from him, the tribunal to which he must answer has a definite flavor of "old Jewish men".
169* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019''
170** [[{{Cyborg}} Sy Borgman]], Ivy's RetiredMonster landlord, played by Creator/JasonAlexander, is a cranky former secret agent from Israel.
171** In first-season finale, Clayface tries to disguise himself as an elderly wolf-man with a Yiddish accent. When Doctor Psycho asks why his character is Jewish, Clayface simply responds, [[IndyPloy "I took a swing."]]
172* ''WesternAnimation/SuperDuperSumos'': Wisdom-san, the sumos' master, is an elderly [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation blue]] man with a Yiddish accent.
173* ''WesternAnimation/{{Jellystone}}'': In this series, Lippy the Lion is an elderly man with a pronounced Yiddish accent. He even says "Meshuggah" at one point.
174[[/folder]]
175----
176''Oy, you should only live so long...''

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