Comment on Progress
usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca 4 hours agoIt “works” in that we know what he meant, but it literally doesn’t work without the “a”.
Comment on Progress
usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca 4 hours agoIt “works” in that we know what he meant, but it literally doesn’t work without the “a”.
Ziglin@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
‘Man’ is often used in the same way as ‘mankind’ which is how I’ve usually seen the quote interpreted. Clearly the preposition ‘a’ makes a very big difference but it still makes sense.
usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca 40 minutes ago
Yes, which is why without the “a” doesn’t work. He wasn’t saying “A small step for mankind, one giant leap for mankind” because that’s nonsensical.
He was saying he (a man) was literally taking a step with his leg, but it was a figuratively large step for the species because of where/how he was taking that step.