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Subject: Re: "It 's a small step for man...

Author: Dan Newman

Date: 01:55:50 07/24/00

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On July 23, 2000 at 14:26:33, Bruce Moreland wrote:

>On July 23, 2000 at 02:52:04, Frederic Friedel wrote:
>
>>On July 22, 2000 at 19:40:24, Jeroen van Dorp wrote:
>>
>>>...butmmmmfgfhiant leap for mankind.
>>>
>>>That's what I always heard. Did Neil Armstrong choke in his false teeth while
>>>saying those words?
>>>
>>>And what about "man"?
>>>Did he say "men"? Did he forget "a" before "man"
>>>He must have meant "this is a small step for me as a man, but a giant leap for
>>>the whole of mankind"
>>>
>>
>>So somebody noticed! What Armstrong said clearly translates to "one small step
>>for mankind, but one giant leap for mankind". I checked the sound track
>>carefully years ago. He said "man" and missed the all-important "a". But we must
>>remember that it is easy to botch your lines in an exciting situation...
>
>He was supposed to say "a" but left it out.  I can't point to my source but I
>remember that I read it in a book or an article that seemed credible.
>
>It would have made more sense with "a", but "man" is sometimes used in singular
>like that, so it's not like he completely crashed and burned.
>
>If you haven't read Tom Wolfe's book about the US space program, I'll recommend
>it.
>
>bruce

I've always thought he probably flubbed the line, but there is a rather
loud crackling sound between "for" and "man" that might have obscured the
"a".  There is just enough space there for a very short "uh" sound that
might have been too faint to punch through...

-Dan.



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