What does this mean?

What does no comments from the peanut gallery mean? First a little history.

In early 1900s, when there were live performances in theaters, performers were sometimes heckled by people sitting in the cheapest seats. These hecklers would throw their peanuts at the performer if they did a bad job. In time, this section earned the name “the peanut gallery”.

Today, the phrase no comments from the peanut gallery means that comments from people who are regarded as unimportant are spurned and unwelcome. It is especially used when the person making the comment is not an expert or is a ‘know-it-all’.

"No comments from the peanut gallery" is a way to tell someone their comment is not welcome or in other words "who asked for your opinion??"


Example sentences :

1) “Hey, who asked for your opinion, no comments from the peanut gallery!”

2) “Sensing that one of her students took exception to her political views, Professor Sander sneered, ‘I will tolerate no comments from the peanut gallery, George.’”

3) "We will not tolerate comments from the peanut gallery," said the announcer.

Camel’s nose under the tent

What does “camel’s nose under the tent” mean? To explain, let me tell you the story behind this phrase.

It comes from an old story about an Arab bedouin who set up camp in the desert.

One day an Arab and his camel were crossing the desert. Night came and the temperature became colder. The Arab put up his tent and tied the camel to it. The Arab went to sleep.

The temperature became slightly colder and the camel asked the Arab if he (camel) could just put his nose in the tent to warm up. The Arab agreed that the camel could just put his nose in, because the tent was small and there was no room for two. So the camel's nose became warm and after a while the temperature went down even more.

The camel asked the Arab again, if he (camel) could just put his fore legs in because they were very cold. The Arab reluctantly agreed that the camel could only put his fore legs in and no more. So the camel moved in his fore legs and they became warm. After sometime the camel asked the Arab again that he had to put in his hind legs or else he won't be able to make the journey the next morning with frozen legs. So the Arab agreed and once the camel moved his hind legs in, there was no more room in the tent for the Arab and the Arab was kicked out.

So, if one metaphorically allows the “camel’s nose under the tent“, one is inviting trouble.


Example sentence :

“Be wary of letting Barbara visit you. It is like the camel’s nose under the tent. Once she’s in, her ‘visit’ will become a prolonged stay.”

Good job mimi cici! keep teaching us! thanks