beeswax
Dave Wilton, Saturday, April 08, 2006
There are a couple of slang usages of beeswax, which are not related to one another.
The term, commonly used in the phrases mind your own beeswax or none of your beeswax, is an Americanism dating to the 1934. It is simply an intentional malapropism for business.
A more recent coinage is the use of beeswax as rhyming slang for income tax. It is also a play on the older rhyming slang bees and honey, meaning money. This British usage dates to the 1980s.
(Source: Historical Dictionary of American Slang; New Partridge Dictionary of Slang)
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Copyright 1997-2007, by David Wilton
Copyright 1997-2007, by David Wilton
Comments
What about this idea?
Also origins for “losing face” & “crack a smile”
> Personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a result,
> many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women
> would spread bee’s wax over their facial skin to smooth out their
> complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began
> to stare at another woman’s face she was told, “mind your own bee’s
> wax.” Should the woman smile, the wax would
> crack, hence the term “crack a smile.” In addition, when they
> sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt . . . therefore, the
> expression “losing face.”