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With Neil Armstrong's death today, many news sites are posting articles that quote Neil Armstrong as "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.".

My question is, does the quote make sense without the 'a'?

and what is the history of the 'a' or not 'a'?

Jonathan.
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    I don't think history of quotes is on-topic here. – Luke_0 Aug 25 '12 at 21:45
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    @Luke, the FAQ includes etymology, and while i know that is the history of words not phrases or quotes, it is close. And the site already has a history tag for phrases – Jonathan. Aug 25 '12 at 22:16
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    This Wikipedia page has an analysis of this quote, (in the section title "First Moon walk"). I believe it answers everything that the OP has asked here. So, I'm voting to close this, as general reference. –  Aug 25 '12 at 23:51
  • -1 no research. Rightly closed GR. – MetaEd Aug 26 '12 at 21:27
  • If you going to bother closing a question you could at least close it before answers are posted. It is preferable to get an answer from a human with which you can communicate with, than a Wikipedia page which any can edit (although I'm not one of those people who think Wikipedia must be avoided) – Jonathan. Aug 26 '12 at 21:44

4 Answers4

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"A man" means one man. Without "a", it means man as in the whole population. To me, it doesn't make sense without the "a". "Man" without any articles means the same thing as "mankind".

Originally, there was no article, however. The words were:

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

However, according to the transcript, "a" was meant to be said. That is the source of confusion.

This article and this article explain the dropping of "a". Here is the transcript.

Historical accuracy aside, it makes the most sense with "a".

Luke_0
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    I agree without 'a' 'man' means the whole population. But I figured that it referred more to the people alive at the time, (or more those behind the whole Apollo program), whereas mankind refers to the human race, all past and future living people. – Jonathan. Aug 25 '12 at 22:19
  • No, "man" refers to "human beings collectively; mankind". This definition man is a synonym to mankind. – Luke_0 Aug 25 '12 at 23:13
  • @Jonathan: I like your interpretation. Too bad Buzz didn't give that idea to Neil on their way back to earth ~ that might have gone over better than the static story. – J.R. Aug 26 '12 at 20:52
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    I've always parsed it as "small step f'ra man". I.e. "for a" all glued up in drawl. – Kaz Dragon Aug 27 '12 at 07:50
  • As a child, I understood it as "one small step for [this] man ..." Cross reference "man and wife" as an example of singular individual use without the article. Such examples are common in poetry, and considering the gravity of the circumstance, would not poetry be the point? To me, "a man" makes the phrase vulgar, not poetic. –  Jul 18 '19 at 06:36
  • Also some uses in Genesis KJV are this way. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." and "she shall be called woman for she was taken out of man" as examples. –  Jul 18 '19 at 06:52
  • However, I'm confident Armstrong meant to say "a man". –  Jul 18 '19 at 06:54
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Yes, the 'a' should definitely be there.

As for the history, Armstrong said his radio cut out on the 'a' and he was misquoted. NASA's transcript can be found here.

[At the time of the mission, the world heard Neil say "That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind". As Andrew Chaikin details in A Man on the Moon, after the mission, Neil said that he had intended to say 'one small step for a man' and believed that he had done so. However, he also agreed that the 'a' didn't seem to be audible in the recordings. The important point is that the world had no problem understanding his meaning.]

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者
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  • Armstrong is full of it. The radio didn't cut. If he said it, he was speaking slow and slurred "for a man" like it was a single word. –  Jul 18 '19 at 06:37
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Armstrong's quote was originally planned to include the word "a":

That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

This makes the most since, since it contrasts the actions of a single man with the consequences for all of humanity.

However, in the excitement of landing on the moon, he miffed the delivery. In the recording, he clearly says That's one small step for man, which ruins the sense of the quote since "man" without the indefinite article would generally be taken as synecdoche for humankind. The quote can be found in both versions in various sources.

JSBձոգչ
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You’re unlikely to find a fuller answer to your question than in the extensive discussion on Language Log, beginning here.

Barrie England
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