Having seen the film "The Dish" recently, as I posted in another thread, I was reminded of Neil Armstrong's immortal words:
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind".I admire the (intended) sentiments, allegedly Neil's own words, not those of NASA or the US government, but it has always bugged me that he left out the critical article "a", thus seriously undermining the meaning. Indeed the quote is sometimes rendered as:
"That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind".I have heard Armstrong claim that he said the "a", but that it was nabbed by gremlins in the communication system. I tend to believe the alternative theory that in his nervous state he fluffed the line. But hell, who can blame him? I go weak at the knees on a stepladder.
Post-script: Thought I'd google the subject before posting. Here's just one of the thousands of results:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_362.html
