Posted by dorayme on 01/24/07 02:50

In article <q7mi84-k0q.ln1@ophelia.g5n.co.uk>,
Toby Inkster <usenet200701@tobyinkster.co.uk> wrote:

> dorayme wrote:
>
> > Reminds me of the first earthling on the moon saying it was a
> > small step for (a) man but a big step for mankind. I recall at
> > the time wincing that he left out the definite article (unlike
> > your correct inclusion of it) before "man".
>
> "a" is the indefinite article. "the" is the definite article. Though I
> believe Armstrong claims to have said "a", but it didn't come through due
> to transmission problems. (Telecommunications was then very much still in
> its infancy when compared with today.)

"a" is the indefinite article. What did I say? Must be
transmission problems... Just remember though, I have been on
earth a while, so it is not so bad.

Actually I heard that story about the transmission, I am
skeptical. But who knows, is there a hint of a gap in the
transmission? And about telecommunications being in its infancy,
how about comparing it to 19th century efforts to balance things
up?

--
dorayme

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