Kibitzer
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Look up kibitzer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
A kibitzer is a non-participant who hangs around a game, offering (often unwanted) advice or commentary. This Yiddish term is used in Contract bridge, Chess, Go, and many other games.
Kibitz is also a term referring to circular commenting. One person comments, then the other person comments. A back-and-forth conversation outside the main issue, where the people having the conversation are not directly participating.[clarification needed][citation needed]
This term has found a home in computer science. NIST released a sub-project of the Expect programming language called kibitz [1] that allows two users to share one shell session, taking turns typing one after another.
There is a 1930 film called The Kibitzer[2] which is based on the 1929 three-act comedy play by the same name.[3]
Jane Jacobs refers to a kibitzer as someone who can look out onto a street, and if they saw any suspicious activity, will intervene and help the victim. In this way, kibitzers help keep streets safe. [4]
Kibitzer is both Schwabian (South German) and Yiddish and means 'nosy person' (neugierig).
[edit] References
- ^ kibitz man page from expect.sourceforge.net
- ^ The Kibitzer (1930)
- ^ Rico's End: A Short Biography of Edward G. Robinson
- ^ The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
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