Discussion Topic
How Short Is Short?
Posted on 05/16/08, 08:21 pm
So, how short is short?
I read a few years ago that the average height for a U.S. male is 5 feet 10 inches, and for a female 5 feet 6 inches. Of course, average heights vary around the world, and can be affected by nutrition, health, and genetics.
I live in San Diego, California, U.S.A. When I'm on public transportation busses, trolleys, and trains, most of the passengers aren't significantly taller than me (the drivers tend to be over 6 feet tall - not sure exactly why). In public libraries, the same pretty much holds true, except that library clerks and librarians don't tend to be really tall. But when I'm in stores and more affluent neighborhoods, I feel like a dwarf; tall people will just plain ignore me, step in front of me in lines, and even try to dominate me. They seem to think that they own the public sidewalks - I don't let people get away with that anymore, though, because I have elbows and shoulders and I don't bruise easily! Taller people do tend to have better clothes, nicer homes, and more expensive cars. They don't display the sort of fear or distrust that many shorter persons like myself unfortunately have as a personality trait.
I'd like to know how your stature affects you in your interactions with other people when you're out and about. Do you sometimes feel that you are treated unfairly, rudely, or unkindly? How do you still manage to smile through it all?
I read a few years ago that the average height for a U.S. male is 5 feet 10 inches, and for a female 5 feet 6 inches. Of course, average heights vary around the world, and can be affected by nutrition, health, and genetics.
I live in San Diego, California, U.S.A. When I'm on public transportation busses, trolleys, and trains, most of the passengers aren't significantly taller than me (the drivers tend to be over 6 feet tall - not sure exactly why). In public libraries, the same pretty much holds true, except that library clerks and librarians don't tend to be really tall. But when I'm in stores and more affluent neighborhoods, I feel like a dwarf; tall people will just plain ignore me, step in front of me in lines, and even try to dominate me. They seem to think that they own the public sidewalks - I don't let people get away with that anymore, though, because I have elbows and shoulders and I don't bruise easily! Taller people do tend to have better clothes, nicer homes, and more expensive cars. They don't display the sort of fear or distrust that many shorter persons like myself unfortunately have as a personality trait.
I'd like to know how your stature affects you in your interactions with other people when you're out and about. Do you sometimes feel that you are treated unfairly, rudely, or unkindly? How do you still manage to smile through it all?
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Reply #1 06/27/08 3:35am
Most folks get out of my way probably because of the chair/crutches. They also tend to open doors and let me go first and smile alot, probably cause i smile at them but i always thought it was cause i cute, -
Reply #2 10/02/08 7:26am
im 4' 7'' so i don't know if this is what you would call short. -
Reply #3 11/17/08 5:48pm
There have always been 'short' people, and even whole groups or tribes of short people, throughout human history. There are still pigmy tribes in various secluded parts of the world (yes, of course pygmy, or pigmy, is considered an offensive term by many persons). If I were surrounded by people who are near my own height, I wouldn't feel short or for that matter, tall. In much of our world today, people of various geographic ancestries are now mixed together in cities and neighborhoods, making it necessary for people to deal with others who may be much taller or much shorter than they are. To parody Einstein, short is relative. In a very few places, I am average or even tall. But in most places and among most people, I am short by comparison. So, most of the time, I'm short. -
Reply #4 11/26/08 7:34am
well, i would want to be any taller, which is why im not trying and growth hormones. God made me short for a reason, and i wouldn't want to change that. iwould go to a endocrinologist just to see WHY im soshort, but not for anything else.
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