[FPSPACE] Linguistic analysis: Armstrong on the moon

[David M Harland]

At 08:03 -0500 8/6/09, Charles, John B. (JSC-SA211) wrote:
>Content-Language: en-US
>Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
> 
>	boundary="_000_F569C8948D3B85408701126F1C19AAF1223A96468BNDJSSCC02ndcn_"
>
>JimO,
>
>I too heard it, live, at age 15, and wrote down what I heard: "one 
>small step for man, one (etc.)." It didn't make grammatical sense 
>immediately, but the best explanation I have heard is that it was a 
>typically clipped phrase from a native central Ohioan.
>
>I wonder how did Walter Cronkite say it in his immediate reiteration 
>of the historical statement?

I rummaged through boxes in my attic and located the video 'Man on 
the Moon' with CBS coverage of Apollo 11. In fact, as Armstrong said 
that he was about to step off the LM, Cronkite was saying that a 
38-year-old American was standing on the Moon - Cronkite had stated 
that Armstrong was 'on the Moon' once he had jumped off the ladder. 
Fortunately, Cronkite completed his remark about Armstrong's age just 
before Armstrong made his 'small step' statement. Unfortunately, 
immediately after this there is an edit in the video to audio and any 
remark Cronkite may have made concering Armstrong's statement are not 
on this particular video.

dmh



>
>Concur re: the small step not being the long fall from the ladder.
>
>JBC
>
>
>From: fpspace-bounces at friends-partners.org 
><fpspace-bounces at friends-partners.org>
>To: Kosmos327 at aol.com <Kosmos327 at aol.com>; 
>fpspace at friends-partners.org <fpspace at friends-partners.org>
>Sent: Mon Jun 08 06:28:25 2009
>Subject: Re: [FPSPACE] Linguistic analysis: Armstrong on the moon
>
>
>Sorry, I don't weigh highly some whiny Brit intellectual's conclusions.
>Never have -- and I've heard lots from that cultural quarter.
>
>I heard the comment live. My brain parsed the audio quality compared
>to my experience listening to pilot air-to-ground conversations in USAF work.
>
>When my future wife (with whom I'm soon to celebrate a 40th anniversary)
>leaned over to me and asked, 'What did he say?', I repeated to her what
>I had heard him say: "Tha'ts one small step for a man...."
>
>Far more significant an error -- common around the world -- is the mistaken
>belief that this was said as Neil jumped down off the ladder and down onto the
>surface of the moon, rather than when he smoothly moved his left foot
>off the footpad, where he stood, and pressed it in to the lunar soil.
>
>Jim O
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <mailto:Kosmos327 at aol.com>Kosmos327 at aol.com
>To: <mailto:fpspace at friends-partners.org>fpspace at friends-partners.org
>Sent: Sunday, June 07, 2009 1:48 PM
>Subject: Re: [FPSPACE] Linguistic analysis: Armstrong on the moon
>
>I have to agree with this. And I find it peculiar that anyone would 
>seriously suggest the phrase as actually spoken to be improper. It 
>was definitely proper enough (and quite moving) at the time.
>
>Regards,
>
>David L. Rickman
>
>
>In a message dated 6/7/2009 2:23:00 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, 
><mailto:jrespler at superlink.net>jrespler at superlink.net writes:
>
>He listened repeatedly till he convinced himself that he heard what he
>wanted to hear.
>It was quite clear that was actually said was
>...step for man
>
>No 'a'.
>
>
>
>
>An Excellent Credit Score is 750. 
><http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222377042x1201454362/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072%26hmpgID=62%26bcd=JuneExcfooterNO62>See 
>Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps!
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>FPSPACE mailing list
>FPSPACE at friends-partners.org
>http://www.friends-partners.org/mailman/listinfo/fpspace
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>FPSPACE mailing list
>FPSPACE at friends-partners.org
>http://www.friends-partners.org/mailman/listinfo/fpspace
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.friends-partners.org/pipermail/fpspace/attachments/20090608/fbe3c1f2/attachment.html