Max Heller used a German-English dictionary and phrase book (on display) to write a letter in awkward English to a non-Jewish woman, Mary Mills, whom he had met years before at a Vienna dance.
While the NBC series was based on a non-fiction book by Buzz Bissinger, the phrase was the creation of Berg, who adapted the book first as a movie and later as a show.
Bill Bonner, founder of Agora and a book-writing machine, has a steel-trap mind with an ability to turn a phrase that is way beyond that of your humble analyst.