beat out the peanut gallery = ?

"To beat out" means to accomplish something before whomever one "beats out." The author is saying he thought he would accomplish his ends before the peanut gallery.

Peanut gallery is a little more obscure, but still quite commonly used in the American language. Originally, peanut gallery referred to the cheap seats in a vaudeville theater, and the people who sat in the back, in the cheap seats, were notable for heckling, i.e. disparaging, the performer (it was said that they would throw peanuts at the performers). In the beginning of television programing in the United States, in the 1940s, there was a popular children's program called Howdy Doody. One of its features was the participation of small children, about 50 or so, and they were referred to as the peanut gallery. Peanut is often used to denote something small, and it is sometimes used to refer to small children. Peanut gallery lost its contemptuous connotation from the days of vaudeville thanks to Howdy Doody, and came to mean simply a loud, rowdy group of essentially benign observers. These days, the use of the term would mean onlookers who aren't expected to have any expert knowledge, but who are likely to comment anyway. The most common uses are in phrases such as "no comment from the peanut gallery," meaning the speaker doesn't want to hear anyone's opinion, or "quiet in the peanut gallery," which means the speaker doesn't want to be interrupted.

Thank you Set.

But I still don't get it well.

If a person is a member of the "peanut gallery" they are a person who makes stupid comments and remarks usually without much prior thought.

So, "I would beat out the peanut gallery" refers to that the commenter would like to smash the stupid idea that the two rackless Japanese scientists offered?

The phrase in question was in a reader's comment underneath the article and has been deleted, so it is difficult to confirm just waht was meant.

Oops! I've posted the wrong link for that context!
The correct link for the context is here:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18229-do-mice-with-two-mothers-spell-the-end-for-men.html

Thank you Oristar. Now we can examine the all-important context. The phrase in question comes from a reader's comment, written by someone called "E", in response to a New Scientist article headed "Do mice with two mothers spell the end for men? " and sub headed "If you believe some reports, the future of humanity is a super race of genetically-engineered women who can reproduce without men.".

The reader's comment consisted of the following text:



Before this appear a number of posts, some decidedly frivolous, off-topic or just plain loony.

Less than a minute earlier, "E" had posted as follows:



It seems clear from this context that Setanta's interpretation of "the peanut gallery" is correct.

Thanks.

It is quite weird that I couldn't get what Set said here.

I am sorry.

"Beat out" seems to be a geographically specific colloquialism. In short, it is US English slang. To "beat out" a person or people apparently means to achieve something before that person or those people, although just "beat" alone would seem to be equally appropriate. When one wins a race or competition, one "beats" the other competitors.

The phrasal verb "beat out" appears to have a specific meaning in the US game called "baseball", where it means "To reach base safely on (a bunt or ground ball) when a putout is attempted." I am unable to explain the meaning of this in detail, but I gather it implies reaching some goal before some kind of time limit expires or some action by the other team takes place. There are plenty of web resources where you can find an explanation.

The above seems to fit the circumstances, which are that a person wished (a) to make an intelligent comment about the published article (b) to do so before the usual gang of idiots (the peanut gallery, the idle spectators who understand little of the topic) made some stupid comments. He is remarking that he failed to achieve objective (b).

Note that while New Scientist articles are generally in fairly scholarly standard English, the comments underneath by web surfers may very well contain language which is idiomatic and even so, mistaken or irregular in its usage.

Although the use of "beat out" is not restricted to a description of a play in baseball, it is probably most commonly seen there. When a ball is "fair," i.e., it hits the ground within the baselines (covering a 90 degree arc, and each beginning at "home plate" and running, theoretically to infinity, each at 45 degrees to a line drawn from the pitchers mound to home plate), the person at bat attempts to reach first base. In the diamond configuration of the field, there is first base, second base, third base and home plate. A player is "safe" so long as he or she has legally reached a base, and has a foot on the base before he or she can be tagged (touched with the ball) by a member of the opposing team. There are other subtleties in this, situations in which a player may be "forced out" because there are other runners on the bases, but they don't apply in this situation.

A ground ball which is weakly hit will "dribble" into the infield, and a bunt is an intentional weak ground ball. The bunt is intended to advance a runner already on base, and the batter, although he or she will attempt to reach first base, is concerned with advancing the runner rather than reaching base. If someone hits a weak ground ball or bunts, and they manage to reach first base before the ball can be thrown to the first baseman (since first base is the only place they can run to, it isn't necessary to tag them with the ball, so long as the first baseman can step on the base with the ball in his glove or his hand)--then they are said to have beaten out the throw--they got to the base before the ball did. Someone who bunts is expected to attempt to beat out the throw, since their object is to distract the infielders sufficiently for the base runner to safely advance. A batter who hits a weak ground ball, since that usually is not the intent, will attempt to "beat out" the throw to first base, because the ball is fair and in play as soon as it hits the ground within the baselines.

This opaque explanation has been brought to you by the Little League World Series and these fine sponsors . . .

In simple terms, the batter who bunts successfully or who hits a weak ground ball is attempting to "beat out" the throw to first base. He or she is attempting to reach first base before the ball can be thrown to the first baseman.

Thank you very much Contrex. Finally I've got what it means.

Of course I thank Set very much, too.