One small step for […] man….

“That’s one small step for […] man, one giant leap for mankind.”

On July 21, 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong placed his left foot on the surface of the Moon and spoke twelve (or was it thirteen?) words that may well be remembered until the day that humankind ceases to exist. Even back then, an estimated one-fifth of the world’s population was listening.

But some people believe that Armstrong flunked his big line. And this whole question rests on an “article”— a.

Armstrong had a choice. He could say, “… one small step for a man…” (the indefinite article); he could say, “… one small step for the man…” (the definite article), or he could say, “… one small step for man…”, omitting the article, or, leaving it out. And each version means something entirely different.

Now, Neil A. Armstrong had had a “tough day at the office”. Months of training; five days’ journey since leaving Florida. During the launch, his heart rate had peaked at 110 beats per minute. When the LM touched down on the surface of the Moon, it had only seconds worth of fuel left. Armstrong had estimated the chances of a successful touchdown to be “fifty–fifty”. So, let’s cut him some slack, right?

But when you write, your readers won’t be cutting you any slack.

You won’t, after all, have just travelled to the Moon (although it might sometimes feel like you have). And your choice of indefinite article, definite article, or to omit the article will have a crucial effect on your meaning.

And those choices are made almost everywhere in your text. You’ve probably been reading this piece for a little over a minute and a half, and you’ve already encountered over forty choices of definite article, indefinite article, or article omission. And that’s one choice every 7.7 words, or thereabouts.

Now, there are rules regarding article use and omission in English.

For example, we use one of the two indefinite articles—a or an—for people or things that we don’t differentiate from other people or things in the same class. So, Armstrong was an astronaut among many.

The definite article, the, meanwhile, is used when the thing/noun we attach it to is so well understood by the reader that it doesn’t require description. Perhaps, for example, the thing/noun has already been described earlier. So, for example, “NASA analyzed the data. The analysis [meaning “the analysis we have previously referred to”] showed that…”.

We also use the definite article when the thing/noun we attach it to is about to be described. So, for example, “The result obtained further supported NASA’s hypothesis”. [“The result…”. So, which result are we referring to? “The result obtained”.]

Finally, we use the definite article when the thing/noun we attach it to is “important”. And this is why we see the definite article, the, attached to, for example, superlatives. So, we have “I am the greatest”, “This is the least of our worries”, “Simply the best”, or “The worst-case scenario”.

Articles are often omitted, meanwhile, in idiomatic usage. So, for example, “Only two things in life are inevitable—death [not the death] and taxes.”

Let’s go back to Neil Armstrong’s famous epigram.

“That’s one small step for […] man, one giant leap for mankind.”

In the context of Neil Armstrong’s speech, if he had said, “one small step for the man”, the thing/noun (“man”) is not just about to be described (the second of the three reasons for using the definite article); Armstrong does not go on to tell us which man he is referring to. Neither would “the man” be important or superlative (the third of those three reasons). So we, the listener, would be left understanding that “the man” is so well understood that it does not require further description (the first of the three reasons for using the definite article). Or, put differently, we are meant to know which “man” Armstrong is referring to.

As the crew of the Moon landing were all male, Armstrong can’t be referring to himself as the only man in a crew otherwise made up of women. Which leaves us with one final (dual) definition of “the man”: the “white establishment, personified by the police”. And I think it’s safe to assume that this is not what Armstrong intended. (Or that he was referring to himself, with modesty becoming an astronaut, as “the man”.)

Again in the context of that July 21, 1969 epigram, “one small step for man” clearly isn’t idiomatic, so we, the listener, understand “man” to mean “humankind” (or, in 1969, for many, “mankind”). This clearly doesn’t make sense as it would give us, “… one small step for humankind, one giant leap for humankind”.

So, it’s our final option (the indefinite article a) that’s correct, which explains why Neil Armstrong, almost without exception, maintained that he did actually say,

“one small step for a man”

So, just one of many men then living on planet earth.

“one giant leap for mankind”.

The choice of indefinite article, definite article, or omitting the article (or, in Neil Armstrong’s case, a fraction of a second of static*) can have a crucial effect on meaning. Because every time you choose an article, or choose to omit an article, you’re telling your readers something fundamental.

And in my experience, it’s interesting that authors can master truly advanced levels of sophistication and nuance in their writing, but still fall down when it comes to mastering what is just a handful of simple, straightforward rules.

* The fraction-of-a-second-of-static theory is just one of the many approaches applied over the years to defend what some have perceived as Neil Armstrong’s verbal blunder. Come to think of it though, wouldn’t it have been better just to admit that he got the line wrong assuming he did? What a very humble message that would have sent (to one-fifth of the world’s human population, and to everyone who came after) about human frailty: Hey, we can make it to the Moon, but it doesn’t mean we’ll remember our lines when we get there.

Or perhaps the explanation is very simple, and doesn’t require that fraction of a second of static at all. Did Neil Armstrong, perhaps, say, “That’s one small step for’a man…”? Armstrong was born and raised in Ohio, and while I know nothing about the Ohio accent, I can say that my spending six weeks in the US wearing a T-shirt that read “Tourist” was, with a Texan President in the White House, either incredibly brave of me or incredibly stupid, especially 20 years ago.

[Illustration by a man (me): The moon over Tuscany, with a Little Owl calling—2021.]