peanut gallery

English

WOTD – 16 September 2011

Etymology

The phrase comes from nineteenth-century vaudeville theatres and refers to the cheap seats at the back of the theatre or in the upper balcony. It came to be applied to other venues as well, referring to the section where less-educated or less-seriously-interested patrons sat. The "peanut" comes from the popularity of that cheap snack in those sections, and the possibility that patrons might throw peanuts at the stage if displeased.

In the mid-twentieth century, the Howdy Doody Show associated "peanut gallery" specifically with children.

Pronunciation

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Noun

peanut gallery (plural peanut galleries)

1. (historical) In the nineteenth century, the cheap seats at the back of a theatre or in the upper balcony.
2. (historical) The upper balcony to which black patrons were restricted in racially segregated venues such as theatres.

   Synonyms: nigger gallery, nigger heaven (both of which are dated and offensive)

   • 2001, John E. Kleber, The Encyclopedia of Louisville, University Press of Kentucky, →ISBN, page 630:

     As early as the 1870s, most theaters allowed African Americans to sit in designated areas, while the dress and parquet circles were reserved for whites. A few theaters did not allow blacks at all. In the early 1920s, black leaders protested these “peanut galleries” on the grounds that African Americans paid the same ticket price. A boycott was organized that resulted not only in the closing of the peanut galleries but also closing of the theaters to blacks altogether. It was not until the public accommodations drive in the early 1960s that all theaters were opened to blacks. On May 14, 1963, the Louisville Board of Aldermen passed the public accommodations law that made discrimination in all public facilities illegal.

3. (idiomatic) Any source of heckling, unwelcome commentary or criticism, especially from a know-it-all or of an inexpert nature. May also now refer to general audience response: "Let's hear it from the peanut gallery."

   Enough already from the peanut gallery; if you think you can do a better job, go right ahead.

   • 2010 July 26, “Leaked archive fuels doubts on Afghan war”, in Reuters‎^[1], archived from the original on 27 May 2017:

     "No democratic government can function effectively on a stage in which every private conversation and classified document is second-guessed by a peanut gallery of unqualified loudmouths," said Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute.

Translations

any source of heckling, unwelcome commentary or criticism

• Russian: галёрка (ru) f (galjórka) (colloquial), дива́нный экспе́рт (ru) m (divánnyj ekspért)

See also

• groundlings, nosebleed seat