If things are tense and tight between you and someone else, and you have had an argument, then it takes a bigger person to make the first peace move. And if that's you, then you are said to be holding out the olive branch - to show a path to peace and reconciliation.
So what is the origin of this phrase and if you've never seen an olive tree nor are there many in your country then what, pray tell, be the link?
Well the answer is something kind of Biblical, and the days of yore, in fact Noah himself - an olive branch gave him hope that the floods were receding, and so was seen as a sign of good tidings.
It has stuck ever since as a sign of goodwill and bettter things ahead; it really has become universal.
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