{"id":3674,"date":"2022-05-21T19:00:05","date_gmt":"2022-05-21T19:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=3674"},"modified":"2022-05-21T19:00:05","modified_gmt":"2022-05-21T19:00:05","slug":"mending-fences-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/mending-fences-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Mending Fences \u2013 Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are you looking for a way to say that two people are working out their differences? They are \"<em>mending fences<\/em>\" and reconciling their relationship differences. This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this expression.<\/p>\n<h2>Meaning<\/h2>\n<p><strong>The expression \"<em>mending fences<\/em>\" means that you're trying to repair problems in your relationship with other people. The other party is usually a family member or friend or someone you value in your life. Mending fences means that you're working out the issues hoping that you can become friends or stay together as a couple.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you're mending fences, both parties are trying to come to amends over their grievances with each other. They are doing their best to keep things civil, but there is no guarantee that the situation will work out as they expect.<\/p>\n<p>Mending fences means that you have good intentions to repair your relationship's problems. It can refer to issues that are decades old or fresh.<\/p>\n<h2>Example Usage<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cIt looks like the brothers are mending fences in their relationship. It\u2019s good to see them together again. That last fallout they had was horrific.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy boyfriend and I were mending fences in our relationship all night. We worked through a lot of stuff, and I think it was for the better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have plenty of problems in our lives, and it seems like we\u2019re always mending fences in our relationship. Do you think it's worth carrying on at this point?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMending fences is an important part of any relationship. Going to bed angry only drives the wedge deeper between you both.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s sit down and start mending fences. We need to get on the same page as each other if we want this relationship to work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy are we always mending fences? I think we\u2019re just not right for each other. Let\u2019s break up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3675\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Mending-Fences.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"116\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3676\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Mending-Fences2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"182\" height=\"100\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Origin<\/h2>\n<p>The expression \"mending a fence\" originates from the proverbial saying, \"Good fences make good neighbors.\" It's listed in the \"Oxford Dictionary of Quotations\" as a mid-17th century proverb.<\/p>\n<p>Robert Frost popularized the expression in English in 1914 with his poem, \"Mending Walls,\" where it appears as follows.<\/p>\n<p>\"He will not go behind his father's saying,<\/p>\n<p>And he likes having thought of it so well<\/p>\n<p>He says again, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'\"<\/p>\n<p>In 1879, American Senator John Sherman gave a speech in his hometown of Mansfield, Ohio, after returning to serve the community.<\/p>\n<p>\"I have come home to look after my fences.\"<\/p>\n<p>The saying went on to develop several variations over the years. It's also responsible for the expression \"looking after your interests\" when referring to political or financial interests.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mend fences Meaning\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/H9qBBzHpemc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to Mending Fences<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Bury the hatchet.<\/li>\n<li>Put it behind us.<\/li>\n<li>Water under the bridge.<\/li>\n<li>Move on with our lives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to Mending Fences<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Locked in a feud.<\/li>\n<li>An elephant never forgets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Mending a fence.<\/li>\n<li>Mend a fence.<\/li>\n<li>Mending fences.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ways People May Say Mending Fences Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<p>The phrase has nothing to do with repairing or maintaining fences. In this idiom, the fence is the relationship between parties, and the mending is the action of apologizing and forgiveness. The parties could be mad at each other for a range of reasons, but a broken fence usually isn\u2019t one of them.<\/p>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Phrase Mending Fences<\/h2>\n<p>You can use \u201cmending a fence\u201d when you\u2019re trying to describe how you\u2019re apologizing to someone in the hope that you can repair your relationship. Usually, people will mend a fence after they have a small altercation where they feel sheepish for their actions towards others.<\/p>\n<p>The person could mend fences right after the altercation or come back decades later to mend the fence. The phrase suits social and professional use.<\/p>\n<p>Use it at the office to describe how a manager and the boss mend fences after falling out. Use it at home to describe two brothers forgiving each other after not seeing each other for years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">Are you looking for a way to say that two people are working out their differences? They are \"mending fences\" and reconciling their relationship differences. This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this expression. Meaning The expression \"mending fences\" means that you're trying to repair problems in your relationship with other people. The other [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3674"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3674"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3852,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3674\/revisions\/3852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}