kibitz

[ostap77]

What does "kibitz" mean?

 

[bhaisahab]

What does "kibitz" mean?

Have you looked it up in a dictionary? Have a look at this: Online Etymology Dictionary

 

[ostap77]

Have you looked it up in a dictionary? Have a look at this: Online Etymology Dictionary

I did. It wasn't there. Is it frequently used?

 

[bhaisahab]

I did. It wasn't there. Is it frequently used?

It's Yiddish in origin. I have never heard it, it might be more common in AmE.

 

[ostap77]

Generally, it means to tell someone else how to do something. For example, if I see you playing cards, I would start telling you how to play the game. To kibitz means to intrude - to offer advice when it is not wanted or asked for.

Could you give me a context which you might use it in?

 

[Barb_D]

I don't have the same definition as Gil. It just means to talk about the game while the game is going on.

If you have four people playing bridge and one person pulls up a chair to watch, but makes comments about the game, he is kibitzing. "Oh, look, he threw the ace. Huh, don't you only do that if you... " "Oh, geez, he must have a lot of spades to make that play." etc.

 

[ostap77]

I don't have the same definition as Gil. It just means to talk about the game while the game is going on.

If you have four people playing bridge and one person pulls up a chair to watch, but makes comments about the game, he is kibitzing. "Oh, look, he threw the ace. Huh, don't you only do that if you... " "Oh, geez, he must have a lot of spades to make that play." etc.

Are there any prepositions you may use it with?

 

[Barb_D]

While we do say "talk about," in my experience with the word, you don't say "he kibitzed about the game" or "he kibitzed on the play," but just "as he watched the game, he wouldn't stop kibitzing."

 

[DRThomas]

I had no trouble finding it in the Online Etymology Dictionary.

 

[Abstract Idea]

I just would like to add that the word "kibitz" is also widely used in chess. With the same meaning given by the posters above (both Gillnetter's and Barb_D's versions). I used to think of it as somewhat of an international "chess jargon" word.

 

[Barb_D]

If you were a bridge player, you'd think of it as "bridge jargon." ;-)

[irrelevant information]
For what it's worth, Yahoo games has a "kibitz" box when you play some of the games there, like backgammon or cribbage. I met my husband as we kibitzed on a game we had been randomly joined in playing. It may annoy other players, but it was a very beneficial outcome for us!
[/irrelevant information]

 

[riquecohen]

I don't have the same definition as Gil. It just means to talk about the game while the game is going on.

If you have four people playing bridge and one person pulls up a chair to watch, but makes comments about the game, he is kibitzing. "Oh, look, he threw the ace. Huh, don't you only do that if you... " "Oh, geez, he must have a lot of spades to make that play." etc.

Leo Rosten, in "The Joys of Yiddish," reinforces Barb´s definition and adds "to carry on a running commentary while another is working." I think that Gillnetter´s definition is also valid.
It´s widely used in New York by Jews and non-Jews alike. The fact that it´s used in bridge and chess and by Yahoo attests to how much Yiddish has influenced and enhanced English.