to know each other's business
- idiom
:
saber de los asuntos de los demás
- In our village, it's hard to keep secrets because people know each other's business very well.
- people know each other's business
Examples
-
37 Pembans were rural citizens, and as in small towns everywhere, people knew each other's business.
Academic text (2006) -
In small communities, everyone tends to know each other's business, leading to a strong sense of togetherness.
-
If you live in a close-knit neighborhood, you will quickly know each other's business as news travels fast.
Antonyms
- Informal
51
3.7
Stay out of other people's private matters and focus on your own
How Aware
∞
1.5
- Informal
1
9.7
279
3.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
know + each + other + business
The meaning is directly built from the constituents: 'know' (be aware) plus 'each other's business' (the private matters of one another), so the overall sense 'be aware of others' private matters' is immediately derivable. This compositional pattern is common in English and has close parallels in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the individual words should understand it.
Etymology
Know each other's business comes from the picture of a small town where neighbours meet on the street or peek through windows and quickly learn each other's news. So it means being aware of someone's 'private matters'.