none of your beeswax
See also: none of your bee's wax and none of your bees' wax
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Alteration of none of your business, to soften the force of the retort.[1]
Phrase edit
- A riposte to badgering questioning, expressing a refusal to answer, and an insistence that the questioner cease prying any further.
- 1950, Beverly Cleary, Henry Huggins, page 21:
- “Whatcha got in that bag?” asked Scooter.
“None of your beeswax,” answered Henry.
- 1977, Albert Ramsdell Gurney, Children, page 25:
- BARBARA. That’s for me to know.
RANDY. Come on. Who?
BARBARA. None of your beeswax.
- 1996, Stephen King, The Green Mile, page 74:
- “You can ask, but since it's really none of your beeswax, I think I'll keep my mouth shut on that score.”
- 2003, Augusten Burroughs, Running With Scissors: A Memoir, page 194:
- “We were just discussing your love life. Or lack thereof.”
“My love life is none of your beeswax,” she huffed.
Translations edit
A riposte to badgering questioning
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