"That's one small step for [a] man, one giant clusterf*ck for linguists."

[wtmusic]

"At the bottom of the ladder, Armstrong said 'I'm going to step off the LEM now' (referring to the Apollo Lunar Module). He then turned and set his left boot on the surface at 2:56 UTC July 21, 1969, then spoke the famous words 'That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.'

Armstrong had decided on this statement following a train of thought that he had had after launch and during the hours after landing. The broadcast did not have the 'a' before 'man', rendering the phrase a contradiction (as man in such use is synonymous with mankind). NASA and Armstrong insisted for years that static had obscured the 'a', with Armstrong stating he would never make such a mistake, but after repeated listenings to recordings, Armstrong admitted he must have dropped the 'a'. Armstrong later said he 'would hope that history would grant me leeway for dropping the syllable and understand that it was certainly intended, even if it was not said – although it might actually have been'.

It has since been claimed that acoustic analysis of the recording reveals the presence of the missing 'a'; Peter Shann Ford, an Australia-based computer programmer, conducted a digital audio analysis and claims that Armstrong did, in fact, say 'a man', but the 'a' was inaudible due to the limitations of communications technology of the time. Ford and James R. Hansen, Armstrong's authorized biographer, presented these findings to Armstrong and NASA representatives, who conducted their own analysis. The article by Ford, however, is published on Ford's own web site rather than in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and linguists David Beaver and Mark Liberman wrote of their skepticism of Ford's claims on the blog Language Log. Although Armstrong found Ford's analysis 'persuasive', he expressed his preference that written quotations include the 'a' in parentheses."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong

I breathlessly await the final verdict.

[randome]

1. It was an inspirational moment. We don't need to quibble over it.

If he didn't say 'a man', that's what I hear him say every time I remember that moment. My memories override Reality. Our cultural memories do, as well.

But it still makes an interesting minor story.

[wtmusic]

3. Exactly

Kennedy gave the US an indefinite article surplus with "Ich bin ein Berliner", so Armstrong dropped his.

Even Steven.

[Angry Dragon]

2. maybe he was just a little nervous

[struggle4progress]

4. Martin Gardner's Dr Matrix attributed the lost "a" to the magic power of the number eleven:

what could be more natural, than that the most memorable phrase of the Apollo 11 mission ("That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind&quot have exactly eleven words?

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. Armstrong used to tell bad moon jokes and end it with

I guess you had to be there.


true story.

[HopeHoops]

6. He's free to use the moon as his playground now. Perhaps he'll put the flag back up.

Apparently, the Apollo 11 flag fell over as the LEM took off (from the thrusters). Only one of the flags is still upright.