5 ms·

I'm not an English native speaker, but what does that headline even mean? " Microsoft Continues Right to Repair About Face"

bleachedsleet 3y ago
An “about face” is a term commonly called in military cadence indicating the soldier should turn around, completing a 180 degree turn. So when used colloquially it means someone or some business had a complete change of mind on some topic. In this case, Microsoft has changed their approach to repairability.
- tmikaeld 3y ago
  Ah, you learn something new every day! Thank you
  - pessimizer 3y ago
    English is mostly military metaphors, sports metaphors, and gambling metaphors stuck together.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
greggsy 3y ago
‘About face’ is refers to ‘a reversal of attitude, behavior, or point of view’. In this case, they used to be against allowing users to repair their devices (using glue, usually), but they took an about face and are making it easier.
junon 3y ago
I'm a native speaker and I didn't even know what it meant. Don't worry lol.
- tmikaeld 3y ago
  :-D
pxeger1 3y ago
"about face" means "complete change in stance"
charles_f 3y ago
I had to search as well https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/about-face https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/about-face
Tempest1981 3y ago
I would also like to see "Right-to-repair" hyphenated, else it's the right to "repair about face". At first I was thinking Face-ID or Windows-Hello.
ComputerGuru 3y ago
According to Merriam-Webster, it should be About-Face with a hyphen in between.
- ghaff 3y ago
  MW is pretty canonical for American English but the use or non-use of hyphens in many contexts (including this one) varies sufficiently that I'm not inclined to say one or the other is universally right or wrong. I'm not sure I would have used one here without looking at MW although I can see why it might be preferred.
  - ComputerGuru 3y ago
    For words that can be confusing if not read as tacked on to the next (or if read as being connected to the previous one instead of the next one) then the hyphenation is strongly recommended to avoid misparsing.
sigwinch28 3y ago
The title feels a bit like a garden-path sentence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden-path_sentence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden-path_sentence
pessimizer 3y ago
It's a clear sentence, but if you're not a native speaker who is up on current lingo and idioms, it's an ambiguous twisty maze of a sentence. I'm trying to translate it into Spanish (not native for me) that communicates the same feel, and I would be dizzy trying to read it.
robertoandred 3y ago
It's missing several hyphens. "Microsoft continues right-to-repair about-face."

bleachedsleet 3y ago

An “about face” is a term commonly called in military cadence indicating the soldier should turn around, completing a 180 degree turn. So when used colloquially it means someone or some business had a complete change of mind on some topic. In this case, Microsoft has changed their approach to repairability.

tmikaeld 3y ago
Ah, you learn something new every day! Thank you
- pessimizer 3y ago
  English is mostly military metaphors, sports metaphors, and gambling metaphors stuck together.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]

greggsy 3y ago

‘About face’ is refers to ‘a reversal of attitude, behavior, or point of view’. In this case, they used to be against allowing users to repair their devices (using glue, usually), but they took an about face and are making it easier.

junon 3y ago

I'm a native speaker and I didn't even know what it meant. Don't worry lol.

tmikaeld 3y ago
:-D

pxeger1 3y ago

"about face" means "complete change in stance"

charles_f 3y ago

I had to search as well https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/about-face https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/about-face

Tempest1981 3y ago

I would also like to see "Right-to-repair" hyphenated, else it's the right to "repair about face". At first I was thinking Face-ID or Windows-Hello.

ComputerGuru 3y ago

According to Merriam-Webster, it should be About-Face with a hyphen in between.

ghaff 3y ago
MW is pretty canonical for American English but the use or non-use of hyphens in many contexts (including this one) varies sufficiently that I'm not inclined to say one or the other is universally right or wrong. I'm not sure I would have used one here without looking at MW although I can see why it might be preferred.
- ComputerGuru 3y ago
  For words that can be confusing if not read as tacked on to the next (or if read as being connected to the previous one instead of the next one) then the hyphenation is strongly recommended to avoid misparsing.

sigwinch28 3y ago

The title feels a bit like a garden-path sentence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden-path_sentence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden-path_sentence

pessimizer 3y ago

It's a clear sentence, but if you're not a native speaker who is up on current lingo and idioms, it's an ambiguous twisty maze of a sentence. I'm trying to translate it into Spanish (not native for me) that communicates the same feel, and I would be dizzy trying to read it.

robertoandred 3y ago

It's missing several hyphens. "Microsoft continues right-to-repair about-face."