Turn around

Turn (something) around

“Turn around.”

“Turn around” is a phrasal verb with a few different meanings, but we’ll focus on one meaning here. Turn around means to change the direction something is facing, usually 180 degrees, so that it’s facing the opposite way.

It’s very common to use “turn around” in the context of transportation. Walking, driving a car, riding a bike, even going on an airplane: these are times when you might use “turn around.”

“We have to turn around.” This is the kind of thing you say when you’re lost and you know you’re going the wrong way. If you’re in the car and you suddenly realize that you’re going in the wrong direction, you have to stop and turn around. That means, point your car in the opposite direction. It doesn’t mean turn left; it doesn’t mean turn right. It means go in the opposite direction.

If you’re driving on a highway and you miss your exit, or if you’re driving on a main road and you miss your turn or you accidentally pass the house or business you were going to—what do you do? You turn around and go back. You can say, “We missed our exit. I’ll look for a safe place to turn around.”

Sometimes you have to turn around even if you’re not lost. If a tree has fallen in the street and you can’t continue on that street, or if there is police activity or fire trucks blocking the way, you have to turn around and go the other direction; go back the way you came.

Have you ever been on an airplane that had to turn around and go back to the original airport? There’s nothing more frustrating. That has happened to me. It can happen if a passenger gets sick. It can happen if there’s an equipment problem. It can happen if there’s bad weather at your destination.

That’s what happened to me one time. The pilot came on and said, “I’m sorry, the weather is too bad at our destination. We can’t land there. That airport is closed. We have to turn around and go back.” That was annoying.

But that was less annoying than what happened to passengers on Alaska Airlines Flight 1292 . They got up to about 16,000 feet of altitude and a part blew off the fuselage, opening a huge hole in the side of the plane. The pilot—you have to give him credit for this—the pilot calmly descended and turned the plane around. The plane then landed at the same airport it took off from.

These examples were about movement, but “turn around” can be something you do without moving, too.

For example, “turn around” is a term you can use when talking about your body. Have you ever gone to meet someone in a crowded place, and you call them, and you can see that person, but they can’t see you. You’re behind them. You’re walking toward your friend. You’re on the phone. Your friend says, “I can’t see you; where are you?” You say, “Turn around.” That means, rotate your body 180 degrees so you’re facing the opposite direction. “Turn around and you’ll see me.”

Some of you are school teachers. If you’re standing in the front of the room, and you see the back of student’s head…that’s not good. What happened? The student turned around to talk to the person behind him or her. This is not what you want, right? So you can say, “Hey, turn around and pay attention.” That means, rotate your body back so that you’re facing the front of the room.

See you next time!

By the way, “turn around” is a very common phrasal verb to mean, “change strategy.” We can talk about that another time. But for now, we’re at the end of the episode for Monday, February 13, 2024.

Remember the full transcript is available at PlainEnglish.com/648. That is thanks to JR. And we will be back on Thursday with a new episode. See you then.