History Main / JewishComplaining

[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness But when things get truly serious, the complaining tends to die down as they get more somber.]] This comes from the actual history of the habit: superstitious Jews believed showing happiness or satisfaction brought the Evil Eye, so they complained to ward off the demon world. Actual misfortune "fills the need" for misfortune in keeping demons away, and may well already have been caused by a demon, so why ward them off when they're already here?

[[caption-width-right:340:[-Hey, at least with the dying, their Earthly problems will soon be over. Jewish people ''still'' have to deal with...-] ]]

* Well, it's happened. America has finally elected its first Jewish President of the United States. So he invites his mother to the inauguration. She says, "But, bubele, how the heck am I going to get there? My car is broken down and whatnot!" So the President tells her, "Ma, don't worry about it. I'll get Air Force One to take you." But then the mother says, "Oiy, I'll need to catch a taxi and carry my luggage. It's just too much!" So he says, "Mom! I'm the President! I'll pick you up in my limo! Then my guards will carry your luggage for you!" But the mother says, "But finding a hotel is gonna be extremely expensive!" So the President replies, "Ma, you can just stay with me in the White House."\\

'''Both:''' Doh-hoh-hoh-hoh!

* Parodied in the ''Series/{{Frasier}} episode Merry Christmas Mrs. Moskowitz, when, in their usual FawltyTowersPlot, Frasier and Niles pretend to be Jewish to impress Frasier's new Jewish girlfriend. The complaining part comes from Martin, who hadn't even been told about the plot yet when he does it.

-->Complaining. This is big with us. What repressing your emotions is to WASPs, complaining is to Jews. It's second nature. But the key is, the complaints should never be about big important things, only little things like, "It's hot out; this restaurant is so far; the line is so long." You know, things nobody can do anything about. Remember, you're not trying to fix anything. You're just trying to be heard.

* ''Series/TheMarvelousMrsMaisel'': Everyone in Midge's family exhibits this to different degrees, Abe especially.

* A common trope among BorschtBelt comedians, of course.

* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Ives often complains about changes made to the franchises he follows, and the entire reason he puts up with Tim's girlfriend Ariana seems to be that he loves arguing with her just on principle. He does mellow out a bit in this regard by the time he's a senior in high school and amusingly his family is incredibly mellow and quick to defuse situations rather than argue.

** [[OneSceneWonder Despite only appearing in one episode for two scenes]], the mohel is one of the best examples in the entire series. Not one minute after arriving at a house for a bris, he delivers ''FOUR'' long, complaining rants, in the span of about two minutes.

* Naomi Bunch from ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'', whose first big entrance in real time (as opposed to flashback or on the phone) was an entire song full of complaining, "Where's the Bathroom?"

* ''Series/TheMarvelousMrsMaisel'': Pretty much everyone in Midge's family exhibits this to different degrees, Abe especially.

** And this is not before Moses gets a chance to complain to God about the Israelites' complaining and their irrational demands, and ''literally'' telling God to "just kill me and get it over with"!

** Mort Goldman embodies this trope, though he's more of a hypochondriac (whose job is, [[{{Irony}} of course]], in pharmaceuticals) than a straight-up complainer.

* The ''entire'' Broflovski family, especially Kyle's cousin, Kyle Schwartz and Sheila, from ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', the notable exceptions being Kyle Broflovski himself and his adopted brother Ike.

-->''Evan'': And who could complain?
-->''Archie'': Except for you, because you're Jewish and you always complain!

* In ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', Estelle Costanza complains about everything, which leads to arguments with her Roman Catholic husband Frank who complains just as much. Helen Seinfeld complains about Jerry's career as a comedian, thinking that there isn't much money in it (despite plenty of evidence to the contrary). As a consequence, she constantly sends his gifts back and he in turn will not accept money from them.

[[folder:Comics]]
* Vladek the main character in ''ComicBook/{{Maus}}'' does complain a lot in the [[FramingDevice present day]].
* ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'': Ives often complains about changes made to the franchises he follows, and the entire reason he puts up with Tim's girlfriend Ariana seems to be that he loves arguing with her just on principle. He does mellow out a bit in this regard by the time he's a senior in high school and amusingly his family is incredibly mellow and quick to defuse situations rather than argue.

''All right, all '''right'''! [[DescribeTopicHere I'll describe Jewish Complaining here already!]] There, are you '''happy''' now?''

This is TruthInTelevision and is actually joked about [[SelfDeprecation more among Jews themselves]] than anyone who's ever been prejudiced against them. Heck, if you see a TV show with Jewish people being big whiners, it's more than likely [[YouHaveToHaveJews a Jew wrote those parts]].

* [[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY Shari]] from ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad''.

The Greeks do this too: it is called ''gana''. Various Eastern European countries also have this practically as a national pastime. Same for the Irish. Germans and Austrians have perfected it into an art form, the [[GermanHumour political satiric cabaret]]. The French-Canadian consider this their national sport after hockey.

* In ''The Sunshine Boys'', George Burns and Walter Matthau play old vaudevillians. They're each a GrumpyOldMan, but the AlterKocker is the grumpier.

* A businessman is on his way home after a long day of work, looking forward to a peaceful train ride where he can quietly read his paper. He boards the train and finds an empty seat across from an Orthodox Jewish man. As the train starts, he settles in and begins to read his paper. Suddenly, he hears from the Jewish man across from him, "Oy, am I thirsty! Oy, am I thirsty!" The businessman thinks nothing of it and continues reading, yet the Jewish man goes on, "Oy, am I thirsty! Oy, am I thirsty!" Finally, the businessman becomes so agitated that he throws down his paper, goes to the next car, retrieves a cup of water and gives it to the Jewish man. The Jewish man thanks him, drinks the water and sighs, his thirst quenched. The businessman settles back down to read his paper, but before he can... [[spoiler:"[[HereWeGoAgain Oy, was I thirsty! Oy, was I thirsty!]]"]]

* Ross Geller from ''Series/{{Friends}}'' is sometimes criticized from being too whiny. He realizes this when he starts a relationship with Janice (who's considered to be the most annoying woman in the world by the gang) and ''she'' breaks up with him because she finds his whining annoying.

* ''Series/TheMarvelousMrsMaisel'': Pretty much everyone in Midge's family exhibits this to different degrees. Abe especially.

-->Evan: And who could complain?
-->Archie: Except for you, because you're Jewish and you always complain!

--> Look, God, what an existence I got. Misfit employees, bums on the sidewalk, business is lousy, my life is a living hell...
* Evan plays with it in ''Theatre/{{Thirteen}}'' . Archie lampshades this trope during 'Terminal Illness'

--> Archie: Except for you, because you're Jewish and you always complain!

-->'''Mittens''': Second of all, it’s "kvetch," not "kwetch." Remember me, the one from New York? Idioms like this are right in my wheelhouse. Besides, I know from kvetching -- dog only knows, I do it enough.