Why are people interested in being tall?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the reasons behind people's interest in being tall, exploring various perspectives on height and its perceived advantages and disadvantages. Participants share personal experiences and observations related to height, including social perceptions, practical advantages, and physical challenges associated with being tall or short.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest that being tall provides practical advantages, such as better visibility in crowds and ease of reaching high places.
  • Others argue that short individuals can achieve similar tasks with the use of tools like step ladders and have unique benefits, such as avoiding head bumps on low objects.
  • A participant mentions the social perception that taller individuals may be viewed more favorably, citing studies to support this claim.
  • Some participants reflect on personal experiences with height changes over time and the impact of height on social interactions.
  • There are humorous observations about the challenges faced by both tall and short individuals in social situations, such as crowd dynamics and clothing adjustments.
  • A participant shares a surprising anecdote about a friend who grew significantly taller after college, raising questions about height changes in adulthood.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

The discussion features multiple competing views regarding the advantages and disadvantages of height, with no consensus reached on the overall desirability of being tall versus short.

Contextual Notes

Participants reference varying average heights in different regions and the subjective nature of height perception, indicating that personal experiences may influence opinions on the topic.

Jekertee
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Why are people interested in being tall ?

I am only 169 cm
 
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Jekertee said:
I am only 169 cm
Same as me, not one centimeter too many nor too few.
 
Being tall makes it easier to see over top of crowds, makes it easier for my family to find me (and me them). At work I can see over the top of the cubes. I can change light bulbs without a ladder, and get the jar off the top shelf.

So often short guys suffer from the Napoleon complex, have to be over aggressive to make up for their other "short" comings. So it may be that the short guys are more concerned about relative heights then the tall guy who doesn't think about height, till a taller guy blocks his line of sight.

Hey some of my best friends are short, its no big deal.


Me ~190cm
 
Integral said:
Being tall makes it easier to see over top of crowds, makes it easier for my family to find me (and me them). At work I can see over the top of the cubes. I can change light bulbs without a ladder, and get the jar off the top shelf.

hm..kinda funny though that I was speaking with a tall person the other day and was having a discussion about what the advantages of being tall was and my friend being tall stated that there were disadvantages to it.

One being that if you wanted to hide well you ...couldn't and others would spot you right away.:smile:
 
Short people don't bump their heads on low branches and doorways, and we know how to use step ladders to reach the jar on the top shelf or to change a lightbulb (or just climb on the couch, table or countertops, which is what I usually do), so we can accomplish everything a tall person can with the addition of a stepladder, and have a benefit they can't attain through use of tools (not bumping our heads on things) and stay in better shape with all that climbing and jumping to reach things, so in their jealousy, they put everything on the top shelf and try to tell people it's bad to be short. :biggrin: It's also a lot easier to hem a pair of pants that's too long than for them to figure out a way to add 2 inches to the bottom of pants that are cut too short.

It's great being short. :biggrin:
 
Where do you live? Height seems to vary by different groups, so you might be closer to average than you think. Average male height in the US seems to be 5'9"-5'10". I am 6 foot tall (183cm), and I wouldn't mind another inch or two.

I have heard improving your posture can "make" you taller, but otherwise work with what you got :smile:
 
I am currently about 5'10". One of the taller people on my basketball team :smile:.

I think the goal to be tall is based off of the general thought that there is always something that you cannot reach.
 
Moonbear said:
Short people don't bump their heads on low branches and doorways, and we know how to use step ladders to reach the jar on the top shelf or to change a lightbulb (or just climb on the couch, table or countertops, which is what I usually do), so we can accomplish everything a tall person can with the addition of a stepladder, and have a benefit they can't attain through use of tools (not bumping our heads on things) and stay in better shape with all that climbing and jumping to reach things, so in their jealousy, they put everything on the top shelf and try to tell people it's bad to be short. :biggrin: It's also a lot easier to hem a pair of pants that's too long than for them to figure out a way to add 2 inches to the bottom of pants that are cut too short.

It's great being short. :biggrin:
Growing up, my best friends house was on the lot whose back corner touched the back corner of our lot, I used to cross our back yard into his yard, the path passed under the limb of one of our apple trees. I well remember the summer I grew 8". I had been running under that limb (it was pretty big ~8" diameter) all of my life, I discovered, at a full run, that I could no longer get under it.

Needless to say I learned to duck.

Head bumping is one of the major disadvantages... fortunatly I have a hard head.
 
Moonbear said:
Short people don't bump their heads on low branches and doorways, and we know how to use step ladders to reach the jar on the top shelf or to change a lightbulb (or just climb on the couch, table or countertops, which is what I usually do), so we can accomplish everything a tall person can with the addition of a stepladder, and have a benefit they can't attain through use of tools (not bumping our heads on things) and stay in better shape with all that climbing and jumping to reach things, so in their jealousy, they put everything on the top shelf and try to tell people it's bad to be short. :biggrin: It's also a lot easier to hem a pair of pants that's too long than for them to figure out a way to add 2 inches to the bottom of pants that are cut too short.

It's great being short. :biggrin:
We're the last to know if it's raining and the first to know if there's a flood.
 
  • #10
Short people have to put up with our armpits in a crowd :biggrin:

(There again, I was tall in the UK but feel average in the tallest nation on the planet :-p)
 
  • #11
I'm 5-6 but according to my weight I should be 5-10 so I've decided that I am tall after all.
 
  • #12
Strangest thing:

In college I met a guy who was about exactly my height. We'd have been about 21 at the time: growth should have been about all done. I met him again about 3 years later and was completely baffled by there being something odd I couldn't put my finger on at first. Then I realized that I was looking decided up at him instead of straight into his eyes as I had a few years before. It was surreal and I said nothing.

Later I asked his wife if I were hallucinating or if he was indeed taller. She said he was taller. I couldn't believe it, and asked if he weren't just wearing some kind of trick footwear. She assured me he wasn't and that, for some inexplicable reason he had just grown about 6 inches. Indeed he has remained that new height ever since.
 
  • #13
I also am only 169cm tall... lying down. No complaints so far. :rolleyes:
 
  • #14
Jekertee said:
Why are people interested in being tall ?

I am only 169 cm

When I was young, I was the tallest in my class.

For some reason, in high school, I was slightly below average.

And now I'm about ~190cm, which is fairly tall.

I can assure you, it's unfair, but people will have a better opinion of you if you're tall. It's not just my personal experience, many studies have shown this.
 

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