Tall Tales

You can ask any man his height and you will be safe to assume that he will add a few inches to his height before telling it to you.

A man's self esteem hinges a lot on factors like his social status , wealth , power and physical size.
Height is very important.
The taller a man is , (or feels) the better he feels about himself.

I've seen many men who were shorter than me claiming to be a lot taller .
"Hey , I'm six feet tall " says my friend ...(while being an inch shorter than me) "and gets into an argument with me when I tell my actual height , which is Five Foot Nine Inches or 176 cm.Strangely he will start arguing that I am taller than what I've stated. I dont usually argue back  with them.I agree with them and say "Six feet ?, Oh you are lot taller than me !".

Its worth it , because you see a smile of satisfaction on their faces.They feel like I've conceded to them by acknowledging their superior height.


Height is important. If parents had a choice they would want their children to have a height advantage. The reasons are obvious, a bigger body means confidence, higher wages, and more attention.

In many countries height is a predictor of social economic background. Malnourished individuals do not grow taller in certain countries and only the well-to-do can afford to obtain height through a plentiful diet that includes lots of protein.

It seems to make sense both biologically and socially to be taller. Throughout evolution, the ‘human’ species has been getting taller. Granted, this fact is due to spinal columns becoming more erect. But, perhaps humans associate greater height with being better because higher intelligence, as was height, a result of evolution.

                On the average, males tend to be larger than females, and in most societies, men hold the power. Height is therefore associated with power. Accordingly, because women are shorter, they are seen as inferior and are therefore not given the power.(An extremely unfair and unethical practice)

          
              In our society, many men and women still hold to the traditional ideals that men should be dominant and aggressive, and women should be passive and unaggressive. These people (assuming they’re heterosexual) would tend to look for a mate with the according height; men look for women who are shorter than them because society says they should be more powerful than their mate.
  
       
         Secord and Jourard performed a study on male attitudes toward body size. Their studies showed that body characteristics pertaining to “masculinity” is related to the size of body parts. Because masculinity was desired, large body size was therefore also the ideal. The presence or absence of large size resulted in positive or negative feelings about the self. Obviously, large size was correlated with positive feelings, vice-versa for small size. Other studies have corroborated these findings (Ablon, 27).

          
          One final approach to looking at positive and negative societal correlations with height are idioms. Common phrases such as “looking up” to someone, holding in “high” regard, “big” man on campus, etc. are all positives traits and expressions in our society. On the other hand, “looking down” on someone, talking “down,” possessing “short-comings,” etc. are all negatives traits whose origins are associated with height. All the aspects of height we have discussed here can be looked at evolutionarily and societally. If height yields power, money and status, then it makes sense that the trait which causes a person to receive these rewards would be passed on evolutionarily.

So the next time you see a guy fibbing about his height, Just Let It Be .

Do Not try to disprove him.(Unless you want to hurt him intentionally)

Let him feel superior in his own way.






Interesting Links :

Wikipedia gives you a list of average height of people all over the world.
(Also read the Dinar story of how they have misrepresented their heights.I think this is a global phenomena)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height

For all the answers about tallness and its advantages , go to

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=263337

For short people, here is a wonderful book that helps them deal with and overcome this biased world.

http://www.powells.com/biblio/0618470409?&PID=30608