Mind your own business

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Mind your own business" is a common English saying which asks for a respect of privacy. It is often shortened, even aloud, to MYOB.

[edit] In American politics

The Fugio cent

On 21 April 1787, the Continental Congress of the United States authorized a design for an official penny, later referred to as the Fugio cent because of its image of the sun shining down on a sundial with the caption, "Fugio" (Latin: I flee). The image and the word combine to mean "Time Flees". This coin was reportedly designed by Benjamin Franklin, and as a reminder to its holders, he put at its bottom the message, "Mind Your Business". This design had also been used on the "Continental dollar" (issued as coins of unknown real denomination, and in paper notes of different fractional denominations) in February of 1776.

Some historians believe that the word "business" was intended literally here, as Franklin was an influential and successful businessman. However, considering the full saying of "mind your own business," which would not have fit on the coin, it can just as easily be interpreted as a statement of privacy.

The reverse side of both the 1776 coins and paper notes, and the 1787 coins, bore the third motto "We Are One" (in English).

When the United States was reformed after the 1789 ratification of the 1789 Constitution, gold and silver coins bore the official motto of the new United States, E pluribus unum, taken from the also non-religious 1782 Great Seal of the United States of America.

In 1864, during the Civil War, the Union (North) introduced a 2-cent coin with the new motto "In God We Trust". In 1956, In God We Trust was mandated for all our currency. There are calls for a return to putting the original mottoes back on all American currency.

[edit] 20th century

In the 1930s, a slang version rendered the saying as "Mind your own beeswax". Folk etymology has it that this idiom was used in the colonial period when women would sit by the fireplace making wax candles together, but this has no basis in fact.

In the classic science fiction story The Great Explosion, 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. It is possible that Russell is the inventor of this initialism, which is now used widely throughout the United States.

"Mind Your Own Business" is the title of a song written by Hank Williams, which reached #5 on the United States Country music charts in 1949.

Also in addition, Mind your own business does mean "Stop meddling in what does not concern you. Attend your own affairs." It's not polite to tell people what to do when you are not responsible for other people.