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Reader question: In this passage – President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is a man known for his surprising and often headline grabbing announcements but this latest one is extraordinary even by his standards. He's called on the left-wing Colombian FARC rebels to lay down their arms and release their hostages. It amounts to an all-out about-face in policy for the man who, only a few months ago, called on Colombia and the international community to stop branding the group a terrorist organization and instead recognize the FARC as a legitimate rebel army (BBC, June 9, 2008) – what does "about face" mean? My comments: About-face is not about the face, as in "losing face". An about-face instead means a 180-degree change from the position of attention, hence in President Chavez's case a complete change in policy. About-face is the same as about-turn, both originally a military term for turning around. If you look "face" up in the dictionary, you'll see one of its meanings as "be opposite". For example: They stood facing each other for a few minutes (Longman), meaning they stood opposite each other face-to-face, eye-to-eye. My bedroom faces north, meaning that, well, I don't get any sun during the day if I get to stay in bed – not that I mind because I don't get to stay in bed during the day anyway. Anyways, it is perhaps from "face" being "be opposite" that in the army, when a commander calls his men to turn around he shouts: "About face!" or "About turn!" | 
