I'm not convinced this is exactly what he did say.
Have you ever noticed that in the recording there's a very big pause between "one" and "giant". Could there originally have been something else pithy in there, edited out for decency?
What could it have been?
Phantaxus -
I didn't mean you had the quote wrong. I meant that NASA may have edited the version released to the world, so we all have it wrong.
It's the timing which seems odd. It goes:
That's one small step for man, one [... ... ...] giant leap for mankind.
I think maybe he got carried away by the occasion, and said, say, "helluva". We couldn't have had that, could we? (And will Answerbank allow me to say it...?)
But maybe he was just choking back the emotion.
What about the first person on Earth...?
Before Eve was created Adam had no-one to talk to, so the first thing he is supposed to have said is a neat palindrome:
"Madam, I'm Adam!"
He spoke English, of course.
That's not going to happen though bernardo! Aren't there sites where you can actually buy plots on the Moon? There's always going to be a builder and a solicitor looking for property to develope!
Well I would have got it right for starters. I would have said, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."
What Neil Armstrong (sidenote: his name backwards is "Gnorts, Mr. Alien") effectively said, was "That's one small step for mankind, one giant leap for mankind."
And on the subject of the missing word(s) in his (wrong) sentence, I would put forward the suggestion: "That's one small step for [sic] man, one Jolly Green Giant leap for mankind."
Whats all this about the moon. Do oyou ever wonder if there are those people (from Stargate - Channel 4 Sundays)looking at us - contemplating a massive attack.
And what do we have - Bush & Blair....... Well, I'm not worried.