What is Digg?65 Comments
- RichPowers, on 10/12/2007, -3/+29Guys, you're all wrong! This is what Niel Armstrong *really* said when he stepped onto the moon :)
http://www.blogjam.com/neil_armstrong/
[NSFW - based on an article from TheOnion's "Our Dumb Century"] - 16x9, on 10/12/2007, -5/+29> Monolith2 wrote: "Am i the only one who thinks it actually sounds better and more dramatic without the stupid "a"?"
If I may, let's set aside the question of which version sounds better. After all, I think the biggest reason it "sounds better" to people (me included) is that we are used to hearing it without an audible "a".
But if you consider what he is saying, without that "a" in there the sentence makes very little sense. That missing "a" makes the sentence seem to contradict itself.
On the other hand, and please forgive me pointing out the obvious, he was attempting to draw the comparison between the reality of a small step for a human being (Armstrong) as he set foot upon the surface of the Moon and how this simple act signifies, well, a huge leap forward for the entire human species. - rompom7, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21yeah, wheres the 1080p version?
- devindotcom, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18Here are the original TV and Radio transmissions:
http://www.skygod.com/quotes/spaceflight.html
judge for yourself! Although an mpeg and a ***** .rm file probably aren't the best evidence one way or the other. In any case, if I were about to step out of my SPACESHIP onto the MOON... I might forget a word too. Actually, I'd probably just barf. - jpyun, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15OK... you guys are all ***** douches. Not a god damned one of you can spell or has proper grammar and you're bitching about wasting money that could be put towards (America's) education system.
a) RTFA
b) RTFA
c) Take a reading comprehension class
d) RTFA
When you come back and finally realize that an AUSTRALIAN COMPUTER PROGRAMMER did this, not some big ***** NASA grammar checking group that drains billions of dollars from our poor, underfunded education system, you'll realize that you've been wasting your life being a douche and go live in a monestary in Tibet somewhere while you hopefully learn to be a decent human being. - blahblah, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11It's been his story ever since the moon landing.
- 0zzy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11"That's one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind."
So THAT'S what he said. I am getting so confused now-a-days...
Pluto isn't a planet...
Indian-style is now criss-cross apple sauce...
And now this?
My childhood, wasting away... everything I know, all a lie. - QuorumCall, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10What he actually said was, "One small step for man, one-- I'm sorry, Jerry, can we do another take? I just wasn't 'feeling' it that time."
- AJRiddle, on 10/12/2007, -5/+13Jesus H. Christ in a chicken basket
- Cl1mh4224rd, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8"But why didn't Armstrong just point this out to NASA?"
He did, more or less.
Here's a longer article: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4225505.html - bitcloud, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9I've taken it into sound forge and looked at the waveform very closely.
When you are around the "for man" section there is a peak right before man. If you separate the word, you get "for" and "man" separated cleanly, and you are left with a tiny 'a' phoneme.
A "for" leading directly into a "man" would offer no peak because the phoneme of "(f)or" is an "O" and that leads directly to a closed "M" sound.
You can try it for yourself - he without a doubt said "for a man" quickly. Even when you say "For a man" it is more often than not indistinguishable from "for man", and this is absolutely what occured in this instance. - Konrad9, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10Wow. Whoever wrote that story needs to get fired, along with whoever gave the OK to publish it.
Extremely, extremely old information.
The fact this guy is claiming to have 'discovered' it is pretty bad as well.
Oh, and the moon is made of cheese. AMERICAN cheese. - milomilomilo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Its pretty clear everybody still understood the meaning of what he said though, that seemingly small actions by one were a great accomplishment by our race as a whole.
It seems even 40 years ago there were grammar trolls, spending their time dissecting sentences to discredit them due to spelling and such, yet missing the point of the sentence itself.
I give it 10 minutes before the moon conspiracy diggers show up telling us the moon is made of cheese, and there were magic alien pyramids on the dark side. - Sagags, on 10/12/2007, -7/+11im sure this is somehow Bush's fault
- Daevlong, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7What do you mean putting money into?
Its not like thie guy is taking money from the education system... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -23/+27Am i the only one who thinks it actually sounds better and more dramatic without the stupid "a"? It flows better to go from "man" to "mankind", not "a man" to "mankind". Besides, it's still grammatically correct without the "a", the meaning is just subtly changed (instead of referring to a specific man, it refers to humans in general).
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6This interview with Arthur C Clarke has the details :-)
Go to the page and search for "small step for" to jump to the part.
Actually the whole interview is good, as anything connected with what ACC has to say about us, humans and the Space.
http://www.kinetikonpictures.com/books/texts/clarke.htm - Antitorgo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Actually, Armstrong has always maintained that he actually DID say "a man" and that somehow the "a" got "glitched" out.
Every time I've heard the actual recording, I can almost make it out and it always did seem to me like it was "glitched" out. I always wondered if it was due to my mind "inserting" it though, because I knew of the controversy, or if I was listening more closely to it or what. To have someone actually try to verify it is kind of interesting to me. - crashflow, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5american cheese? then the moon should be in the shape of a square wrapped in cellophane or in a spray can.
- thatsmyaibo, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7Who cares what sounds better and what is actually correct...he was on the freaking moon! That's a bit more impressive than proper sentence structure. Not only that he might have...just maybe, had more important things on his mind.
- MSTK, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3...I'm pretty sure that Neil Armstrong said himself that he meant to say/said "one small step for a man". Maybe these Techies are proving that he actually did say it, and we didn't hear it because of a technical glitch. Not that he meant to say it but actually didn't.
- apolloae, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Doesn't this warrant...
Whoop-dee-*****-doo? - billymachine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2WTF? That's exactly what he did mean...
- buyer687, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"One small step for man....."
"Cut, cut, cut...okay everyone break for lunch. Neil, how many more times are we going to have to shoot this? The script says ' for A man'. Enough with the ad-libbing." - QuorumCall, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I'm not following you. What do Swedes have to do with Switzerland?
- foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5http://www.snopes.com/quotes/onesmall.asp
Snopes is usually right. Looks like they will have to change it - CBTF, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3*Waits for someone to come and say that the moon landing was faked*
- Antitorgo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I watched/listened to it (yet again) and I think he says "for a man". It is kind of run together though. Sounds like he says "fora man".
- missflibbles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1More than ten years ago, when I was a little kid, it occurred to me that "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" didn't actually make sense, as "man" is typically used to refer to "mankind." Obviously, everyone knew what he meant.
Then I read that everyone else recognized this as well, and figured the radio static cut out the "a" because people were quoting it wrong.
Old news, dude. Chill. - Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Swedes eating a Danish?
- trunkster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm sure there are plenty of cuts they can go back to. He could of said many things, they had to get the script just right of course. And when does computer programmers know grammer?
- mikeazorin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Am I the only one who hears the clip "One small step for man. One-- bioflin for mankind."
- FanofFilm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1and the Cookie Monster now admits he had a problem and that cookies are only a sometimes food.
- imtigger2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2... and i hate to break this to you as well, but Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny aren't real. Sorry about that.
- Paroparo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Here I thought this was common knowledge. =/
- daRoach, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Actually everything you knew was the truth, it's just that everything now is becoming a lie.
- rspeed, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Armstrong's use of the word "persuasive" rather than "convincing" is quite amusing.
- favabean, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Very cool conceptual art (by Nina Katchadourian) who made a sound installation out of the tapes of Armstrong and company. The article has lots of info about the grammar circus in 1969 (pre-digg).
http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/languagetranslation/indecision.php - Modulo, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5@johnjjbsu: get back under your bridge, troll
- tfdigg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0There's an article about this in Art Journal. From 2002...
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0425/is_3_61/ai_92026830/pg_3 - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0wrapped in cellophane? What are you, on food stamps? Spend a little cash. Get your cheese at the deli counter. Much better than the individually wrapped processed crap.
- KnightCrawler, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1How about: One small step for me, One giant leap for mankind.
Seriously after 40 years they might as well just leave it alone. I've memorized it without the "a" and it still gets the point across. In fact inserted the "a" sounds really bad. - macslut, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Sorry, the "a" wasn't there.
There are two ways an "a" could've been there:
1) Armstrong spoke away from the microphone, or there was a drop of audio. (timeline not interrupted)
2) The recording device stopped for a split second when "a" was said. (timeline interrupted)
If you listen you'll hear that "for" and "man" are too close together for there to have been an "a" in there without the timeline being interrupted. In scenario #1 above, you would amp up the volume and listen for a subtle "a" or a drop of audio. Unfortunately "for" and "man" are just too close.
If the timeline was interrupted, you could analyze this using the original source. The original source in this case wasn't digital so you can't just look for a broken line in the waveform. Unfortunately, the analog recording equipment at the time didn't allow for split second gaps. If it had stopped with the shortness of time that would've naturally occured between the words, relative to the rest of the quote, then the words following the gap would've been distorted as the recording device got back up to speed.
This means either Armstrong said "a" during a really long gap when the recording device failed, or simply that Armstrong blew the line and didn't realize it.
As someone who has recorded audio/video in the studio, I can tell you that numerous professionals, even with teleprompters, often swear they said something a certain way only to be shown later that they didn't.
In this case, it was a great line, we all knew what he meant, let's just put the "a" in parentheses. - gabeN, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Achtually, no-one ever landed on the moon... it was a ll a hoax. Just like 9/11, and JFK (Junior too!)
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0This is all well and good except for the fact that Armstrong himself admits that he screwed up and did not SAY the word "a". That is the reason for the long pause after "man". He realized his mistake and for a split second wondered if he should correct himself.
So saying they found the "a" is stupid since it doesn't exist. - ManOfTomorrow, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1"So Barney we here your kicking ass!" - Buzz Aldrin
- noreturn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Thank god that Neil can finally come out of hiding. Technology saves an innocent man yet again.
Seriously, though, who gives a *****. The guy was the first human to walk on the moon. Anyone who criticizes his grammar after successfully flying over 200,000 miles miles in a tin can powered by a graphing calculator has major penis envy. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Cl1mh4224rd, in that article, he does not say that he definitell said it at all. HE says he INTENDED to say it, and may have, but he never says that he definitely did. Of course he intended to say it.
- MrMuskrat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Old news. I was taught this in elementary school back in the 70's. Very old news. It was a glitch. Big deal.
- imtigger2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Ha! That is ***** brilliant... :)
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