At a towering height of 5'1, I've suffered height discrimination most of my life, despite all my qualifications and experience.
Not that anyone would admit to it, of course.
So I have just had to get on with proving my worth and doing what I believed was right.
In the end I got myself a stunning wife who is 5'8 before she wears any heels - and I look like Bernie Eccleston with her. Smug!
So, you can't imagine how happy I was to see this in the Manchester Evening News:
Tall People are more at risk of catching coronavirus due to "aerosol transmission"
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/tall-people-more-risk-catching-18674866 (https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/tall-people-more-risk-catching-18674866)
Poor Aerosols.
Bob
I've never come across 'heightism' in all my 67 years of life. Can you cite some examples?
That question immediately makes me feel awkward, but it is mostly in a competitive business environment, where there are lots of alpha males competing for attention.
Another situation is in groups. I'm great conversing one to one, face to face, or standing at a podium (usually to one side of the podium) and addressing a whole conference centre, but in a pub, where everyone in the group is standing up, the conversation literally goes over the top of my head.
Bob
Its swings and roundabouts for anyone that isn't a statistical mean height
I'm 6'4' but hardly an Alpha male, I used to live in a 450yr old cottage and have an almost permanent mark on my forehead from braining myself on the various door frames and beams that intersected my head height! :)
on a more serious note, My Daughter is a Ballet Dancer and at 5'8 (at 13!!) some of the more traditional Ballet schools will happily discriminate against a tall girl, simply because of their outdated ideas of ideal and she's lost out several times because of it.
So I think questions of height discrimination are entirely contextual
Quote from: Newportnobby on August 13, 2020, 03:59:41 PM
I've never come across 'heightism' in all my 67 years of life. Can you cite some examples?
nearest I can think of is forming up a flight.
first thing is 'fall in in a single line -
tallest on the left
shortest on the right.
and yes, I was right marker on my pass out parade :-[
I sympathise with you Bob.
The only avantage of being small is not needing so much leg room in an aeroplane.
Quote from: Bob G on August 13, 2020, 03:39:37 PM
So, you can't imagine how happy I was to see this in the Manchester Evening News:
Tall People are more at risk of catching coronavirus due to "aerosol transmission"
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/tall-people-more-risk-catching-18674866 (https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/tall-people-more-risk-catching-18674866)
Poor Aerosols.
Bob
At 6'2" I'm quite upset that you'd be happy if I caught Covid19, thanks a bunch ???
Quote from: Philip. on August 13, 2020, 05:11:04 PM
At 6'2" I'm quite upset that you'd be happy if I caught Covid19, thanks a bunch ???
It was a bit tongue in cheek, after all I made it to 59 living amongst giants :)
I prefer shorter folk, they may not notice I'm bald ;)
Does that mean that short people are more suceptible to arse*ole transmission??? Pffft!
Reaches for coat...
(and holds breath - 5ft 8 I probably fall into the short category).
Quote from: grumbeast on August 13, 2020, 04:27:13 PM
Its swings and roundabouts for anyone that isn't a statistical mean height
I think questions of height discrimination are entirely contextual
I think you are right, but then most discrimination is contextual, isn't it?
Quote from: Philip. on August 13, 2020, 05:11:04 PM
Quote from: Bob G on August 13, 2020, 03:39:37 PM
So, you can't imagine how happy I was to see this in the Manchester Evening News:
Tall People are more at risk of catching coronavirus due to "aerosol transmission"
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/tall-people-more-risk-catching-18674866 (https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/tall-people-more-risk-catching-18674866)
Poor Aerosols.
Bob
At 6'2" I'm quite upset that you'd be happy if I caught Covid19, thanks a bunch ???
It's why I rated it with a thumbs down, too.
I did take it as being somewhat tongue in cheek
As a bloke of 5ft 1.5in I agree that heightism does indeed exist. It's just something you have to live with and get on with things regardless. There have been so many occasions when I have stood up at an event and some smart Alec has shouted "stand up, oh you are ". That stupid comment immediately detracts from what I have to say. I usually just retort " how clever, I've never heard that before" as a slap down.
I think being short is worse for men than women. I am a comfortable 5'10" while my wife has shrunk a little due to health conditions and dropped from 5'1" to 4'11" The only problems she experiences is not being able to reach items on high shelves (both at home and when shopping) - and comments from me about being able to sleep across the bed :D Short men seem to be much more looked down upon (pun intended), especially by some women. My eldest son unfortunately looks likely to be a fair bit below average height and possibly my youngest too, although the middle one looks like he'll be around the average.
Quote from: Newportnobby on August 13, 2020, 03:59:41 PM
I've never come across 'heightism' in all my 67 years of life. Can you cite some examples?
The police 'force' used to have heightism. Before I left school I wanted to be a copper at 1 point. Unfortunately they insisted on a miminum height of 5' 8" for men and 5' 6" for women if I remember correctly. I wasn't sure |I'd make 5' 8" so I became a hairy arsed electrician instead, no height resticyions there. I also thought about being a motor mechanic but I forgot about that one night.
Doesn't seem to matter now:
(https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/01/13/article-0-07D86BD6000005DC-925_634x774.jpg)
They don't need height to hit you with a fine!
A presenter at our local radio station once had the bright idea of bringing together the shortest and tallest listeners just for a laugh. I emailed him to point out this is the same as bringing together the people with the lightest and darkest skins together for a laugh. The idea was quietly dropped.
Quote from: Chris Morris on August 13, 2020, 10:02:45 PM
As a bloke of 5ft 1.5in I agree that heightism does indeed exist. It's just something you have to live with and get on with things regardless. There have been so many occasions when I have stood up at an event and some smart Alec has shouted "stand up, oh you are ". That stupid comment immediately detracts from what I have to say. I usually just retort " how clever, I've never heard that before" as a slap down.
Ah that's interesting. I see you "get" what I mean. Jealous of that extra 0.5" though.
I had a manager in a professional consultancy who used to call me "BibbityBob". He said it was a term of endearment. Given the firm was so politically correct in everything else, I found it (in PC terms) "very disappointing".
I came to find the HR term "very disappointing" meant they were "rucked off" that I would not tow the party line and do what the management team wanted me to do.
So they paid for me to go on a course of "therapy" so I could learn to work with management rather than challenge them all the time.
The therapist agreed with my perspective and suggested that the firm wasn't the right place for an entrepreneur like me.
That's why I'm self-employed now, and loving it.
No drugs and alcohol policy. No anti-slavery policy. No BS.
I think you get to a certain age when you've seen it all before for what it is.
Bob
In France some small people seem to overcompensate for heightism by been overly aggresive, e.g. N. Bonaparte, N. Sarkozy, etc.
Quote from: joe cassidy on August 14, 2020, 11:41:15 AM
In France some small people seem to overcompensate for heightism by been overly aggresive, e.g. N. Bonaparte, N. Sarkozy, etc.
No need to restrict it to France. I find its usually because tall folk :censored: us off.
I'd rather be short and feisty than tall and gormless.
Of course not all tall people are gormless but then not all short people are overly aggressive, but that's the danger of making sweeping generalisms.
Do small kids still get called "titch" in the UK ?
I think they use far ruder words now
Yes, I used a few choice words when I read the OP wishing me dead. Then I read 'it was a bit tongue in cheek' so that's OK now ???.
Let's hope the chips on your shoulders make you look taller in a jacket :D ;). See what I did there, bit tongue in cheek. Ha ha.
Cheers, weave :beers:
Quote from: tutenkhamunsleeping on August 13, 2020, 06:01:57 PM
I prefer shorter folk, they may not notice I'm bald ;)
Unfortunately baldness may be a risk factor for catching Covid, and is also a side effect!!
Quote from: weave on August 14, 2020, 01:01:36 PM
Let's hope the chips on your shoulders make you look taller in a jacket :D ;). See what I did there, bit tongue in cheek. Ha ha.
Nah but the lifts in my shoes work just fine.
Quote from: Railwaygun on August 14, 2020, 01:06:31 PM
Unfortunately baldness may be a risk factor for catching Covid, and is also a side effect!!
Unfortunately I'm short, fat and bald. No a good combo really.
We live in a world built for average sized people. At just 6ft I am a little taller than average but still have trouble sometimes with car roofs, low doors (tube trains...) and seating on buses and planes. My stepson is 6'5", needs an extra-long bed, can't buy jeans to fit and struggles to get into the back seat of any car. And he gets all the tired jokes about "is the air pressure low up there...?". Jokes about people's height, or lack of it, still seem to be acceptable, whereas those about the overweight are not. It's a funny old world.
Cheers,
Chris
Being short (5'5" and a half!) has never really bothered me except for one thing..........
You know how the fish and chip shop has those high counters? Well, mum had sent me to buy Friday night's family supper. I queued up and at last I was able to step forward as the next customer. "What can I get you?" said the fishmonger to the bloke behind me. To be fair he would have had to have leaned forward and peered over the edge of the counter to spot me. I think they sent a search party out for me after about three hours. :)
Whenever I receive the tiresome "heightist" joke from taller people I always reply (with a mock look of disgust on my face) "DO try to keep your nasal passages a little cleaner." It nearly always elicits a reaction of the tall guy grabbing the end of his nose. :D
Alec.
One thing I really appreciate is that I can reach the "grab handles" on the Singapore tube trains, and can travel holding on to these when standing up, whereas I can't so easily do that on the London Underground.
Bob
[/quote]
Unfortunately I'm short, fat and bald. No a good combo really.
[/quote]
Remember, the perfect shape is a sphere. I console myself with this notion.
Webbo
When I was a kid, my ears used to stick out. I guess at the age of 68, they still do!
I always remember when I started grammar school, the older kids used to call me "lugs".
Like any kid in those days, I'd put up with it as they were older and a lot bigger.
I think it's called bullying.
I must have been resilient, because I never lost any sleep over it, though.
Quote from: Webbo on August 16, 2020, 09:09:40 AM
Remember, the perfect shape is a sphere. I console myself with this notion.
Webbo
Exactly. Why have a six pack when you can have a barrel?
Quote from: Webbo on August 16, 2020, 09:09:40 AM
Remember, the perfect shape is a sphere. I console myself with this notion.
I am in shape - round is a shape :D
To paraphrase Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dundee,
That ain't round, this is round.
(Science centre, Nagoya, Japan) :thumbsup:
(https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/78/255-030619063743-780371113.jpeg)
Quote from: joe cassidy on August 14, 2020, 11:56:39 AM
Do small kids still get called "titch" in the UK ?
Not just small kids, I call my wife that too.
She sometimes, without saying anything, looks pleadingly up at a shelf for me to get something down and I say "You're titching again."
When I bought my turbo charged MX5 my brother in law was dying to have a drive.
At 6'3" he couldn't fit in the drivers seat no matter what he tried (seat back, seat leaning, steering wheel raised, shoes off).
Had to be satisfied with being a passenger. Myself at 5'6" had no problem but is quite snug.
Every height has pros and cons.
Indeed. I am lucky in being 5'10" that most things in everyday life are designed around someone of my sort of height, so I rarely have problems.
Quote from: Bealman on August 16, 2020, 09:19:23 AM
When I was a kid, my ears used to stick out. I guess at the age of 68, they still do!
I always remember when I started grammar school, the older kids used to call me "lugs".
Snap! At my grammar school (Bromley in Kent) I was also called "lugs". Nothing to do with my ears though. Surname Ludlow was initially shorten to "Luds" and morphed to "Lugs" after a while.
At 69 my ears DO seem to have got larger over the years though. :)
Alec.
Going off on a tangent into nicknames. When I was a lad we were all called by our surname at school. I had an elder brother in the same school so I was Morris Minor which soon became Moggy. So nothing to do with my height thank goodness. I don't recall any heightist comments at school this only came later at work. I really do think that it is harder to get your ideas listened to in the workplace when you are short. Luckily for me I was good at some things and people eventually found it was worth listening to me.
I was caller Pecker, after Gregory Peck, of course.
That was probably one the more polite names I had :)
Quote from: NinOz on August 16, 2020, 12:13:17 PM
When I bought my turbo charged MX5 my brother in law was dying to have a drive.
At 6'3" he couldn't fit in the drivers seat no matter what he tried (seat back, seat leaning, steering wheel raised, shoes off).
Had to be satisfied with being a passenger. Myself at 5'6" had no problem but is quite snug.
Every height has pros and cons.
I have recently bought a Toyota Auris estate, and this is the very first car my wife has been able to pull the sun visor down and it actually shields her eyes, and doesn't have to look through the windscreen wipers. She's 4' 6" and proud of it!
Quote from: TrevL on August 19, 2020, 06:36:29 AM
I have recently bought a Toyota Auris estate, and this is the very first car my wife has been able to pull the sun visor down and it actually shields her eyes, and doesn't have to look through the windscreen wipers. She's 4' 6" and proud of it!
Crikey, that reminds me of my first car, an Austin Cambridge. The previous owner was somewhat vertically challenged and he drove it by looking through between the top of the steering wheel and the top of the dashboard.
I knew someone else who was vertically challenged in the other direction - he drove a classic Mini, having taken the driver's seat out and sitting on the back seat. He could also adjust the driver's side wing mirror without getting out of the car.