Why do some people inform an adult person who is tall of the fact that he or she is tall?

My son is 6’3» and shoe size 13, it was a pain when he was younger.
The odd joke about my height, 5’11, washed over me. What did hurt was being called ‘big’, which I took as meaning fat, it was meant as tall. As a teenager I took that to heart and I wasn’t overweight.

That's adding a lot of shelf-stacking staff overhead (no pun intended) to resolve something that isn't that much of a problem. Most people of average height can reach the top shelf. I'm 5'2" and on occasion have to ask an assistant or any random taller person nearby to reach for something. Or stand on the bottom shelf for a second or two for a bit of added lift. It's not a big deal.

The supermarket problem could be solved quite easily if the store layout were that instead of, say, everything being on six shelves that the same layout on the lower three shelves in repeated on the upper three shelves. So, say, half of the pickled gherkins on shelf 3 and half on shelf 6; half of the cans of spinach on shelf 2 and half on shelf 5. Same amount of stuff taking up the same amount of space, just more accessible to people of various heights.

I am 5’3 and my advice is not to ask tall young men to hang your bathroom mirror! I had my son and SIL do mine - both 6 footers and I could only see the top half of my head!
DGS is a 6’4 and I find it difficult to hold a conversation with him if we are standing close as I am either looking at his chest or get neck ache.
I get so cross needing to wait in supermarkets for a taller person to get me something from the top shelf. I think the French ones are not so high but then I don’t look quite so short against many French women.
I have been out dress hunting this last week and so despondent at the length of most of them making me look like a droopy draws! I have never before so wished I was a few inches taller.

My brother is 6' 5" and it's just been constant comments. As a youngster, it upset him, but now he finds it a bore.

Over the years he's got to know all the comments and jokes - backwards. Now, he quickly interrupts to finish the phrase and then sigh.

I absolutely agree that comments about a persons appearance are unacceptable (for “tall” substitute “fat”, “small”, black” and you see what I mean) but the other thing about the link is that it was to an article written by a woman - so we are in the realm of patronising, sexist comments too.
But it does not amount to informing the recipient of the comments.
I once asked a (tallish) man if he could pass me something from the top shelf in a supermarket and he commented “somebody didn’t eat up their greens, did they?” It was not meant unkindly so I refrained from attributing his noticeable lack of hair to somebody not eating up their crusts.
Just. Don’t. Do. It.

EP as I said he realised it was inappropriate as he said it. There are times when an apology is appropriate and times when the best thing to do is keep quiet. This was one of those.

And those are my final woords on the subject.

ElderlyPerson

Jaxjacky

Had it for years, at school it was ‘what’s the weather like up there’ I rose above it…metaphorically speaking!

The answer 'clear and bright' doesn't always go down well!

“Grow up and find out” is one of my favourites.

I’m 6’1” . Parents were tall as are my two children. DD my height and DS 6’3”

I was brought up to be proud of being tall. No stooping. Lucky to have a mum who could sew and taught me.

I’ve not had any comments for a long time till a month ago. At a Pilates class a lady turned to me and said it. Followed by ?How tall are you?. Politely told her then I had to listen to a tale of her holiday where there were quite a few German families who she exclaimed were all giants. Even their children, who looked so odd being as tall as an adult but dressed like children.

To follow this a week later at my eye test, the optician said the same ? question ?” Told him and asked how much he weighed. “Point taken,” he laughed. He was 23 stone.

We had a problem with a satellite dish which, because it’s at the top of the chimney, required a ‘Height Team’ to attend. When they arrived, one of the men must have been at least 6ft 8in tall, but he still needed a long ladder to reach the dish!

I think people who comment on someone, especially a stranger's height can't have heard the phrase 'It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.'

Some people also seem unable to control their manners when faced with a bald men.

Idky but when I meet a very tall person, I just gaze up and up and have to comment on how tall they are. I am just so amazed but I guess it is rather rude. I just can’t seem to help myself.

Good question Ep

My son is 6'7" shoe size 12.

Hi shot up just before his 15 birthday going from being a similar height to his classmates to towering over them.

He was already at difficult age, puberty and all that it entails and suddenly becoming different from his contemporaries was bad enough but the constant remarks (that he still gets to this day) wore away at his self esteem.
So much so that he always hunches over to try and avoid look so tall.

I was relieved when my DDs' feet stopped growing at about age 12, EP as I thought they might take after their grandma. DS's are long but it's not a problem for a man.

barleycorns I don't think I'd heard of that measurement before!

My MIL's maternal ancestors were shoe makers.

Callistemon

Blossoming

When I used to ravel by air on business regularly I could never reach high enough to put my bag in the overhead locker. One morning a tall guy in the opposite seat said ‘Here you are shorty’ and passed it up for me. Then he went to sit back down and banged his head on the overhead locker. Some you win, some you lose, but I’m always grateful for help anyway

That made me laugh, Blossoming ?

My MIL was very tall which was unusual for girls born in the early 1900s. She also had a problem buying shoes (size 9), I used to take her shoe shopping but she often had to compromise and buy an 8 years ago, hence she often had sore toes.
They were a tall family and I used to feel like a midget when amongst them at 5' 5" (less now).

I remember reading some years ago a letter to a magazine from a tall woman who stated that she had gone into a shoe shop to buy some size 9 shoes for herself and was told by a man, "Madam, women do not have size 9 feet."

Apparently the difference in length from one adult foot size to the next is one third of an inch.

I have just found this.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe_size#United_Kingdom

Quite fascinating, going back to an ancient system of measurement.

Blossoming

When I used to ravel by air on business regularly I could never reach high enough to put my bag in the overhead locker. One morning a tall guy in the opposite seat said ‘Here you are shorty’ and passed it up for me. Then he went to sit back down and banged his head on the overhead locker. Some you win, some you lose, but I’m always grateful for help anyway

That made me laugh, Blossoming ?

My MIL was very tall which was unusual for girls born in the early 1900s. She also had a problem buying shoes (size 9), I used to take her shoe shopping but she often had to compromise and buy an 8 years ago, hence she often had sore toes.
They were a tall family and I used to feel like a midget when amongst them at 5' 5" (less now).

Blossoming

When I used to ravel by air on business regularly I could never reach high enough to put my bag in the overhead locker. One morning a tall guy in the opposite seat said ‘Here you are shorty’ and passed it up for me. Then he went to sit back down and banged his head on the overhead locker. Some you win, some you lose, but I’m always grateful for help anyway

I have, years ago now, been in a supermarket and small ladies have asked me to pass something to them because they cannot reach it. I have always been pleased to help and I have never made any comment that related to their size.

It must be awful to go shopping and needing to ask for help like that on many visits.

Sometimes the shelves are so high it is ridiculous. A lady once asked me to pass a pack of kitchen roll from the top shelf and I needed to stand on tiptoe to get it!

The staff were stacking shelves using a portable staircase!

However, I did on one occasion see a couple in wheelchairs and one of the staff was accompanying them around the store so that she could help them as needed.

M0nica

Sorry, EP, I do not quite get your point. DH was taken by surprise, because the man concerned was not just tall, but excetionally so and made a comment, he recognised himself, after the event, as being inapropriate.

Are you really saying that you have never ever made been surprised into making an inappropriate remark? Although I cannot give a specific example, I am sure I have at some time.

The thing is that the man was at work, working in his role, and a customer in the restaurant made a comment to him about his physical appearance.

What types of comment about a person's physical appearance are considered acceptable and what types of comments about a person's physical appearance are not considered acceptable?

Did he apologise to the man?

When I used to ravel by air on business regularly I could never reach high enough to put my bag in the overhead locker. One morning a tall guy in the opposite seat said ‘Here you are shorty’ and passed it up for me. Then he went to sit back down and banged his head on the overhead locker. Some you win, some you lose, but I’m always grateful for help anyway

Sorry, EP, I do not quite get your point. DH was taken by surprise, because the man concerned was not just tall, but excetionally so and made a comment, he recognised himself, after the event, as being inapropriate.

Are you really saying that you have never ever made been surprised into making an inappropriate remark? Although I cannot give a specific example, I am sure I have at some time.

M0nica

I think because, like other things in life it is a spontaneous comment when surprised by someone or something.

We recently ate at a restaurant where the waiter who came to serve us was at least 6ft 6in and the low ceiling and his thinness made his height more obvious. I confess DH did, look at him with surprise and say, 'Gosh, you are tall'. I thought the same, but didn't say anything. DH wasn't telling him anything, it was more surprise reaction. I did say to him afterwards, that he really shouldn't have said anything and he said, he was aware of that but had been so taken by surprise at the time.

I have shrunk several inches since the menopause and as I am long in the leg, I look minute when sitting down. It takes me by surprise, let alone anyone else! Today I went to the optician and she was commenting on my small head because the sides for my new glasses frame will need to be specially made for them to be short enough.

If you are slightly out of the main stream, people will comment, I cannot say it bothers me even the smallest possible amount. i am as I am.

Ah, comments made about his physical appearance in the workplace.

Ah.

ElderlyPerson
When you did go out did you never walk/drive past a school ?
They are giants. My 11 yr old granddaughter is 5’ 3” my 15yr old grandson is 6’ 2”

Grandma70s

It’s basically envy and admiration. People don’t say “Aren’t you small!” because that is seen as an insult.

Oh they do!

AGAA4

Young people today are getting taller. My grandson and most of his friends are well over 6ft. The girls too are much taller than when I was a teenager.
The clothes and shoe manufacturers haven't caught up yet. Not many shoes in size 13.
I think comments about being tall will die out soon.

I cannot justify this, I am not a clinician, but I suspect that the reason is that to be tall one needs both the genes and the environment in which the genes can thrive. So lack of parents smoking round them, good food, clean air, clean water, good medical care, all have some effect and that people of earlier generations often did not have what later generations did and so did not reach the height that they might have reached.

Young people today are getting taller. My grandson and most of his friends are well over 6ft. The girls too are much taller than when I was a teenager.
The clothes and shoe manufacturers haven't caught up yet. Not many shoes in size 13.
I think comments about being tall will die out soon.

I think because, like other things in life it is a spontaneous comment when surprised by someone or something.

We recently ate at a restaurant where the waiter who came to serve us was at least 6ft 6in and the low ceiling and his thinness made his height more obvious. I confess DH did, look at him with surprise and say, 'Gosh, you are tall'. I thought the same, but didn't say anything. DH wasn't telling him anything, it was more surprise reaction. I did say to him afterwards, that he really shouldn't have said anything and he said, he was aware of that but had been so taken by surprise at the time.

I have shrunk several inches since the menopause and as I am long in the leg, I look minute when sitting down. It takes me by surprise, let alone anyone else! Today I went to the optician and she was commenting on my small head because the sides for my new glasses frame will need to be specially made for them to be short enough.

If you are slightly out of the main stream, people will comment, I cannot say it bothers me even the smallest possible amount. i am as I am.