Mind your own business

"Mind your own business" is a common English saying which asks for a respect of other people's privacy. It can mean that a person should stop meddling in what does not concern that person, etc. Its initialism is MYOB.

For other uses, see Mind your own business (disambiguation).

Origin

Most modern theologians do not believe that the phrase "Mind your own business" is of direct biblical derivation, though something similar appears in the bible where St. Paul tells the church of Thessaloniki about this manner of living in his instructions as a way of Christian life (I Thessalonians 4:11). The Greek phrase is πράσσειν τὰ ἴδια, which translates as "manage yourself".[1]

The first of coins, minted by the United States under The Coinage Act of 1792, display the words “Mind Your Business” on one side.

20th century

In the 1930s, a slang version rendered the saying as "Mind your own beeswax". It is meant to soften the force of the retort.[2] Folk etymology has it that this idiom was used in the colonial period when women would sit by the fireplace making wax candles together,[3] though there are many other theories.[4]

In the classic science fiction story "...And Then There Were None", author Eric Frank Russell shortened "mind your own business" to "MYOB" or "Myob!", which was used as a form of civil disobedience on the planet of the libertarian Gands.[5] Russell's short story was subsequently incorporated into his 1962 novel The Great Explosion.

See also

References
  1. "1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 NIV". biblegateway.com. Retrieved 2012-03-26.
  2. Palmatier, Robert Allen (1995). Speaking of Animals: A Dictionary of Animal Metaphors. Greenwood Press. pp. Google Books Search, p.23. ISBN 0-313-29490-9.
  3. "mind your own beeswax". Theidioms.com. 2006-01-16.
  4. "World Wide Words: Mind your beeswax". World Wide Words.
  5. "'And Then There Were None' by Eric Frank Russell". www.abelard.org.
  • Theidioms.com, Origins of common sayings - Mind Your Own Beeswax
  • Abelard.org, And Then There Were None (relevant excerpt of The Great Explosion)
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