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You are here: Home / Language / Where Did the Expression “Mending Fences” Come From and What Does the Phrase Mean?

Where Did the Expression “Mending Fences” Come From and What Does the Phrase Mean?

April 7, 2020 by Karen Hill

In 1880, the strong-willed senator John Sherman was testing the water for a presidential nomination.

He slipped out of Washington but was followed to his Ohio farm by a reporter who found the senator talking with a high-ranking party official while standing near a fence.

When the reporter asked what they were doing, the response, “We’re mending fences,” gave him his headline, and it became a new phrase for healing relationships.

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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