indefinite articles - How on Earth can we say 'a' moon?


This question refers to Earth's moon only.


This is really two questions:




  1. Our Earth has only one moon. So why and even how can we say 'a' moon?
    1b. Restated: What other moon than 'the' moon is in the class of Earth's moons so that I can say 'a' moon? See C) below.



Here is my second question:



Consider the following:
A) There's a fly in my soup.



  1. Does the use of the indefinite article restrict a fly to one of a finite number of real flies which have a realistic probability of being in my soup? I know that a generic or prototypical fly cannot be in my soup.



For instance I am in a diner in San Francisco. If I say, There's a fly in my soup, I think I am referring only to one of the 5,000 flies that are in San Francisco. I can't be referring to flies in Los Angeles or flies in Chicago, can I? I can't be referring to fictional flies or flies from outer space either. I can't really be referring to a fly that I saw yesterday, can I? If there are, say, 1 million flies in the world I can only be referring to some subset of that 1 million, not the whole 1 million, because 500,000 are in the Orient and could not possibly be in my soup (a fly from the Orient could be).



In any case, is what is being said the following:


There's a fly in my soup and I don't care to say which one it is, and I don't care which one it is--but I am referring to one of 5,000 flies in San Francisco.



And:



B) There's a full moon in the sky tonight. (Or: There's a full moon out.) The moon is full once every lunar month. I don't know which lunar month it is. So am I saying:


There's a full moon out tonight and I don't care to say which one it is, and I don't care which one it is--but I am referring to 1 of the 12 or 13 possible full moons?



Last



C) There's a moon in the sky tonight (Or: There's a moon out tonight.)


So am I saying: There's a moon out tonight and I don't care to say which one it is, and I don't care which one it is--but I am referring to 1 of the 1 that there is circling Earth?



The moons of other planets are not under consideration, because only a geekazoid would know when the moons of other planets are 'visible' from Earth on any given night.


What other moon than 'the' moon is in the class of Earth's moons so that I can say 'a' moon?




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