I haven’t used a conventional alarm clock for years. I have a personal alarm clock named Laura. But recently I’ve needed its services. And for several days now, when it goes off, I find myself thinking, “The alarum has sounded!” (How Shakespearean de Verean!) It seems I’m playing with the word to make up for the dreary prospect of actually getting up.
Today it got me thinking about the natural economy of the English language: alarum → alarm, aeroplane → airplane, and so on. Maybe all languages are like that. In French, though, appartement is still four syllables, last I checked.
Be that as it may, the urge to clip (or simply the disinclination to enunciate) can have unfortunate consequences. Ask Neil Armstrong. For years he has insisted (in his mild, downstate Ohio way) that he had really said, “That’s one small step for a man,” not “… one small step for man.” Last week a kind stranger provided a computerized analysis of the famous sound bite that seemed to vindicate Armstrong’s claim that he had merely swallowed the a. I did my own little analysis of the NASA clip and, sure enough, you can see a trace of the article between “for” and “man.” The homespun astronaut pronounces “for” more like “fur” (and, really, don’t we all? and doesn’t that make us all homespun?), so the phrase comes out more like “furamán,” with the first (furst?) a barely sounding.
Give a listen:
Now have a look:
Not a big deal, and yet kind of a big deal. The historic lunar exclamation doesn’t make much sense without the a. Let’s hope the correction gets made in all extant transcripts of that epoch-making moment.
