The term kibbitzer (and thus the verb to kibbitz) comes from the chess cafes of central Europe at the start of the century. A kibbitzer did not play chess, but watched other people playing, and possibly made comments on their play. The following citation from the Times defines and uses it in this sense in the context of a Bridge tournament:
Kibbitzing (looking over the shoulders of the experts) is instructive as well as enjoyable.
In the following citation from the Guardian it comes to have the general meaning of an interested observer:
This week, at last, all is official. Scientists, journalists and interested kibbitzers gathered at Fermilab on Tuesday to hear the news.
I have called this page Kibbitzer because it allows you to observe the sorts of problems that arise in revision of students' written work, and, if you wish, send your comments on how we could improve our play in 'the revision game'.
Back to Kibbitzer page.