Home » One small step for Neil Armstrong: the wheels of justice grind slow, but they grind exceedingly fine

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One small step for Neil Armstrong: the wheels of justice grind slow, but they grind exceedingly fine — 17 Comments

  1. I like the altered version, because it would use man as in plural, insynch with mankind. Man to represent mankind, instead of one man.

    Sort of like the transition from man, the lonely guy in nowhere, to mankind, the group continuity.

  2. We had no business being there in the first place. We were told there would be green cheese. There was NO green cheese. It was only an excuse for the criminal Nixon to colonize yet another pristine world and plant the flag of oppressive AmeriKKKa before the Soviet Union could.

    This is yet another example of failed US adventurism and 4 year quagmire that was unwanted by the indigenous life form.

    Yes, thats right. Im referring to the Moonbats.

  3. Doesn’t anyone think “a man” sounds awkward?

    I prefer “one small step for man.”

    The grammarians are wrong on this one.

    What next? Are they going to correct “it’s the real thing?”

  4. I find the former, mistaken sentence to be somewhat endearing. Who can remember a rehearsed line when you just step onto the moon?

  5. I prefer the ‘original” version myself. Armstrong was the only one taking that step. But there were tens of thousands working to develop the technology to make it possible. And millions paying the taxes which financed the mission.

    I was sitting in a barber’s chair in Vietnam when I first heard those words. Isn’t it funny how such events bookmark our lives?

  6. OK, I went and looked into this because it was pissing me off. And there is absolutely nothing erroneous or wrong about the original quotation as I explain in detail over at my blog. This is a tyopical case of “grammarians” not seeing the forest for the trees, Next thing you know, they’ll be telling us that’s wrong too.

  7. Neo, I worked at KSC at the time and I was irked at what I thought I heard. The quote was scripted of course, but it was secret. I remember the announcer, very quietly, almost a whisper (like it was a putt for the Masters)say “here’s his quote…”. Then a little confusion on his face, before he repeated what Armstrong seemed to have said. I don’t remember what TV channel I was watching. I do remember the contrast between the live broadcasts and the edited (for time) rebroadcasts. Do you?

  8. Heh. It doesn’t really matter whether it was an error in grammar, an error in Mr. Armstrong’s diction, or even a technical error that caused a skip in the transmission.

    The moment came, the world was watching, and the line was blown.

    Me, I actually like the fact that the line got screwed up. It makes the whole thing seem more an act of ordinary, falliable human beings, rather than perfect, manicured gods that only exist in Hollywood movies.

  9. It was never a big deal to me whether it was grammatically wrong or not, as a pretty verbal 6th grader it made just as much sense to me colloquially.
    As far as a rehearsed or even scripted line goes, I’d sure as hell hope *someone* would think long and hard beforehand, for something to say when about to go do the impossible and unheard-of – instead of casually and extemporaneously ad-libbing something trite.

  10. The syntax isn’t wrong, but it just wasn’t what Armstrong was trying to say. One small step for a man, just means differently than one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

    The reason I like the altered one, the one that Armstrong didn’t mean, is that if Armstrong was just talking about “one man”, he would be talking about himself. But if he said one small step for man, you can feel yourself part of this endeavour, perhaps walking in his shoes as well because you are part of mankind.

    The altered phrasing, thus creates a more lasting appeal, because it appeals to all of mankind, not just to “one man” who walked on the moon.

  11. It’s a literary technique called “juxtaposition,” Ymar. The impact of the second clause, “one giant leap for mankind,” was to have been increased by preceding it by the clause focusing on the simple, everyday action Armstrong was taking, “one small step for a man.” If Armstrong had started with the line, “one small step for the men and women of the NASA Apollo program,” there would have been significantly less power in the juxtaposition.

    The line was carefully planned out beforehand, polished into what would have been a truly elegant statement to insipre a nation.

    And it got blown. How it got blown really doesn’t matter, it still got blown.

  12. I suppose it’s a matter of opinion, if you think it’s better to make 150 million Americans say “huh?” instead of “HELL YEAH!” Just don’t be surprised if hardly anyone shares it.

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