Mind your own business

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"Mind your own business" is a common English saying which asks for a respect of privacy. It can mean "Stop meddling in what does not concern you," "Attend your own affairs", etc.

A variant of this saying appears on the Fugio Cent.

[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.

Mind Your Own Business is also an Australian developer of business accounting software.