"Mind your own business" is a common

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

saying which asks for a respect of other people's privacy. It strongly suggests that a person should stop interfering in what does not affect themselves. Contextually, it is often used in an argument or dispute as a remark to refute, reject, disregard, or discourage others' concerns or comments. Its

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

is MYOB.

Origin

The phrase appears in

St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

's first letter to the Thessalonians in the fourth chapter:

11 'that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you'.

Some 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 Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

about this manner of living in his instructions as a way of

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

life (I Thessalonians 4:11). The Greek phrase is πράσσειν τὰ ἴδια, which translates as "manage yourself". The first coin that was minted and officially circulated by the United States, the Fugio Cent, displays the words “Mind Your Business” on the obverse.

20th century

In the 1930s, a

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...

version rendered the saying as "Mind your own

beeswax Beeswax (''cera alba'') is a natural wax produced by honey bees of the genus ''Apis''. The wax is formed into scales by eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal segments of worker bees, which discard it in or at the hive. The hive workers ...

". It is meant to soften the force of the retort.

Folk etymology Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

has it that this idiom was used in the colonial period when women would sit by the fireplace making wax candles together, though there are many other theories. In the classic science fiction story "...And Then There Were None", author

Eric Frank Russell Eric Frank Russell (January 6, 1905 – February 28, 1978) was a British writer best known for his science fiction novels and short stories. Much of his work was first published in the United States, in John W. Campbell's '' Astounding Science ...

shortened "Mind your own business" to "MYOB" or "Myob!", which was used as a form of

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...

on the planet of the libertarian Gands. Russell's short story was subsequently incorporated into his 1962 novel ''

The Great Explosion ''The Great Explosion'' is a satirical science fiction novel by English writer Eric Frank Russell, first published in 1962. The story is divided into three sections. The final section is based on Russell's 1951 short story "...And Then There We ...

''.

References

{{reflist

External links

Theidioms.com
Origins of common sayings - Mind Your Own Beeswax

And Then There Were None (relevant excerpt of ''The Great Explosion'') English phrases

Origin

20th century

See also

References

External links