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In Portugal, we have an expression to designate this, which literally translates to something like "coach from the audience". This is a figurative expression related with those people on the audience of a sports event, screaming at the coach of the team (or the team itself), schooling them how they should play, typically in a condescending way, despite the lack of expertise of this outsider.

This expression is also sometimes used when someone is providing unsolicited advice, but it's different. Because unsolicited advice is many times regarded as coming from a good intention to help, and because an unsolicited advice is an attempt to solve a problem. The concept I was searching for captures the cases where there might not be any problem at all, but still there is this person who has to voice their opinion on a condescending way about something that is not his responsibility.

I know about the word 'patronizing', but I feel that this doesn't capture exactly what I want to express.

Is there any word or expression in English that is tangible to this?

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    Does this answer your question? What word describes someone who offers unsolicited advice? Commented Apr 1, 2021 at 16:32
  • @EdwinAshworth Thanks. Nice suggestion, but no. The meaning I was trying to grasp is more/different than simply unsolicited advice. It is somehow related, but not exactly. Because unsolicited advice is many times regarded as coming from a good intention to help, and because an unsolicited advice is an attempt to solve a problem. The concept I was searching for captures the cases where there might not be any problem at all, but still there is this person who has to voice their opinion on a condescending way about something that is not his responsibility.
    – cinico
    Commented Apr 1, 2021 at 21:13
  • Note that the answer you accept here is given at the suggested duplicate, so that thread does answer your question. We try to avoid bloat on ELU to keep it more easily searchable and credible. Commented Apr 2, 2021 at 10:54
  • @EdwinAshworth I missed the fact that that thread contained my accepted answer. If you think it's best to mark this as duplicate, it's your decision. I personally would like to keep this because of the description I gave when searching for that word - I feel that for future reference it might be useful for someone. But it's ok if you think otherwise - guidelines are to be followed for a reason even thought it may not please everyone :)
    – cinico
    Commented Apr 2, 2021 at 21:13

2 Answers 2

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Farlex has backseat driver.

  1. A passenger in a vehicle (not necessarily in the backseat) who attempts to instruct the driver or criticize their driving skills.
  2. By extension, it also means someone who tries to establish and maintain control over every situation.

Lexico supports this with

back-seat driver
NOUN

1.1 A person who is eager to give advice about something for which they are not responsible.

She failed to appreciate that the term ‘back-seat driver’, in most people's eyes, was pejorative: she thought it merely indicated helpfulness, whereas others saw it as meddling and controlling.

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Perhaps dictatorial works here.

"If you describe someone's behaviour as dictatorial, you do not like the fact that they tell people what to do in a forceful and unfair way."

Reference: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/amp/english/dictatorial

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  • Thank you. However, 'dictatorial' seems to bring emphasis on enforcing the command, and that's not what I want to express.
    – cinico
    Commented Apr 1, 2021 at 9:20

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