h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm 5'4" (just...), which although not dwarf-like, isn't tall and willowy either. I'd like to be a couple of inches taller, especially as I always think clothes look better on tall people and they can get away with carrying a bit of extra weight without looking like a dumpy square thing. There are advantages to being short though, not least that you can duck through a crowd by dodging underneath taller people's elbows .

And people tend to treat you more carefully if you're shorter, which of course has a downside as well as an upside.

And don't you just hate it when tall people lean on their elbows on your head, as if you were a mantelpiece

Can't say that's ever happened to me... so far. If it did I'd probably jab 'em in the armpit.

:And people tend to treat you more carefully if you're shorter, which of course has a downside as well as an upside:

Can't say It's ever happened to me, but then I have five tattoos and three facial piercings, so I probably don't project the kind of image that inspires that sort of behaviour Small but deadly, that's me

I have problems reaching the top shelves in supermarkets and cupboards, but then I have a very obliging (tall) Other Half for that kind of thing. Otherwise I use it as a darn good excuse to grab hold of the nearest fit-looking young man

The biggest problem I have is finding trousers to fit . Most shops' 'short' length (if you can find 'em) is *just* too long, but petite ranges are too short

mmmmm....here i am the master of lifting tiny women up to reach shelves lmao

Lifting?!

I pity the fool that ever tries to do *that* to me..

No no no, you've got it all wrong. I get guys to reach for things for me so's I can ogle their arse whilst they're doing it.
Your version would spoil the view entirely

Oh, and I'm 5'2 1/2, by the way (the 1/2 is important )

I'm 5'10, average Caucasian male height, and that is still too tall. I have banged my head on more than one basement ceiling.

Short *is* beautiful, though I don't know why. I have three immediate theories though!

1. Protective Instinct.
A romantic interest who is smaller than you arouses paternal/maternal instincts, an urge to protect this small and fragile thing. Also the question of proportions; I'm sure I've read somewhere that baby animals have exaggerated proportions so their parents don't kick them to the curb. Perhaps something similar is in effect. This theory is a bit too Freudian for my tastes, though. Next.

2. A Delicate Flower
Second hypothesis: people equate smaller size with finer craftsmanship, whether with a wooden trinket or a cellular phone. This could have become a standard for beauty through association (I like my women like I like my cars: fast, comfortable, and easy to handle on curves; a quick improvisation). Armourers in ye olde medieval thymes used to make their display armour a few sizes too small, to show off how precise their work was. Maybe the same upper classes that appreciated this standard of manufacture appreciated it in their women, and passed it down to us. I mean, up until the 30's or 40's women were still considered, basically, damsels in distress, so who's to say this aesthetic doesn't stem from the same period? (Chivalrous times, not the roaring twenties)

3. Evolution, James (Because Every Argument Needs a Third Point)
Life has been getting easier on the human race. Our teeth are shrinking, our hands are shrinking, so why not the entire body? An attraction to shorter women may be a sort of evolutionary tap in our current direction, whatever it is. I'm not exactly qualified to theorize in this field, but think: houses, cars, toothbrushes (teethbrush?) everything around us is getting smaller, so it's natural for us to want any potential offspring to fit in.

That's my say in the matter.

Tall guys like small girls. Maybe its a gene mixing instinct or something.

Yeah, let's hear it for homogenization.

The elbows on the head sounds almost as bad as having your boss pat you on the head. I think short folks (I'm 5'0) get treated like children in many respects. After all, in the first 10 or 12 years of life we learn that bigger people have more knowledge, power, ability, etc... That's hard or impossible to unlearn completely. Then one of us runts finds ourselves in a position of authority and things get interesting. I was acting as union rep and the only female in the room when my boss decided it would be fun to pet my head. If he hadn't been so nearly senile and beyond hope I would have decked all 6'2 of him. Try to enforce a rule after a scene like that.

Yep, I think shortness makes a lot of people think you're also younger. I'm 5'2'' and twenty, but I easily pass for sixteen. Obviously it has something to do with my face etc., but I'm sure the height plays a critical part.

I hate it when people think I'm younger than what I am. Sure, it might turn into an advantage in a couple of years, but right now it's really annoying.

I'm shorter than both my parents (were), so it sort of feels like I never reached the height of a grown-up.

But then again, I kinda like being petite. I'm beautiful in my smallness. And it's nice when attractive guys want to lift me up to feel how light I am. The feminist in me says that it's not good to get acceptance for being (physically) weak, but I can't help feeling flattered about it.

I'm a vertically challenged 4ft 11 and 1/2 inches, and quite happy about it

It has it's advantages. When I was 21 years old, I was still paying half fare on buses.

Like a couple of others have said, it's an excuse to ask the tall hunks to reach high shelfs, and bottoms of freezers, and you get a nice view at the same time.

The main disadvantage, and one of my pet hates, is when in a shop, someone is served over the top of my head. Can't they wait a few seconds for me to move out of the way...

I think most small people have experienced bullying/teasing during their school years. I have, almost every day, for the whole 10 year sentence. Maggot, Bridet the midget, shorta*se, are just a few I can remeber. IMO there are two possible outcomes of this, either you grow up bitter, or with a sense of humour, for me, it was a sense of humour.

Emmily

I remembered something after I posted above last night.

I have a medical condition that is the cause of my shortness.

I stopped growing when I was 3 years old. My mum was concened about this, took me to GP, who referred me to Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Every year from the age of 4 - 15 I had a yearly appointment at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where I was measured, weighed, xrayed, couple of other things too.I was givn an estimated adult height of 5ft. At 15 I told my mum it was a waste of time, I didn't like it and refused to go anymore.

I only found out about my 'condition' twelve years ago, when I had my son, also very small, referred to find out if he could have growth hormones. He was diagnosed with the growth condition, it was then, I was told I had the same condition. I was told the growth hormones would only give him an inch or two, and were painful injections that he would need to have every week, I decided aginst them. Very glad that I did too, as they were later alledgely connected to serious, sometimes tradically fatal side efects.

My son only had one appointment at local hospital, it was with a room full (9 poeple) of Doctors/consultants from various 'fields' My son was given as estimated adult height of 5ft 2in. I had a letter from Great Ormond Street, about him attending appointsments there. I wrote back, saying thanks, but it had done me no good, and I wasn't going to put my son through that.

I can't remember the name of the condition, but I'll try to find out, it's a long word, about 15 letters, begins with a 'H' It's a small bone in the lower back (I think) which in most people is straight, in those with the condition it is bent, and therefore prevents normal growth.

Emmily

With the usual helpfulness of h2g2 Researchers I've found the word, here it is, and it's description;

Hypochondroplasia,
autosomal dominant condition in which children present, often to a growth clinic, with short stature. Clinically, they have a normal trunk with short limbs, but normal facies. Radiologically, the skull is normal. In the spine there is failure of widening of the interpedicular distance. On the lateral spinal radiograph the pedicles are short. The thorax and the pelvis are essentially normal. The long bones tend to be shorter and thicker than normal. The fibula is long relative to the tibia. There may be cone-shaped epiphyses. Intelligence is normal.

There are probably many short people who have this condition, and are not aware of it.

I had to at the last sentence, whatever normal is

Emmily

I haven't found that I get treated more sensitively, really. More treated like a hamster. I've 5ft 1 and a 1/2 now (the half is important to me too) and a few years ago I'd be picked up frequently by strange people at school. I'd guess I was 4' 8" at that time, glad I've grown a bit. 3 years left for growth if it's true you don't stop till 18. If I get a bit over 5'3" I'll be ecstatic.

on when you stop growing it has recorded for *normal*(whatever that is) females to grow till they are 18 but they usualy stop around 16 and for males high for *normal* ones is 21 usualy 18

note that it means more of that guys stop growing between the ages of 18&21 and females between 16&18

also incase anyone wanted to know I have a smaller female preference(probably partly due to my older sister who was taller until recently ... wonder if that is a factor in more casses ?.?)