In the past week or so I’ve met two men who had average-sized and normally proportioned bodies except for remarkably short legs. They almost had the appearance of a little person, but not really.
They looked to me like they would have been at least six inches taller, maybe more, if they had legs of a length you would expect from the rest of their bodies. They both happened to be quite fit and athletic, by the way, but I doubt that has any relevance.
So is that … a thing? I mean is this a condition, or have I just coincidentally met a couple guys who had unusually short legs?
Long waisted. Surprisingly, there is no wikipedia entry for it.
Coincidentally, I (the OP) am a person of long torso. I could riff on that for a while…
But I don’t think y’all are getting the right impression. I’m not talking about someone like me – very long torso on top of normal to short-normal legs. I mean these two guys had *really *short legs. Like you see them and don’t think, “Hmm, long waisted.” You see them and think, “Ummm, wow…”
I didn’t measure their inseams or anything, but take my word for it, this was more than having a long torso.
There were a lot of swimmers like that at the Paralympics. So, yeah, apparently it does happen. You should have seen the upper bodies of those guys and gals…
i recall that in most ordinary people the height difference is in the legs. some difference in torso height but mostly similar between people, it is not in proportion to total height.
I am taller than most people when sitting, and of average height when we all stand up. At least, they stand up.
My husband (and much of his family) have a hereditary form of rickets known as X-linked hypophosphatemia. It results in more or less that appearance: his legs are really short (like an 18" inseam) and his torso is normal. His legs would be curved, but they were surgically straightened when he was 13, which was apparently about as brutal as it sounds.
I am long waisted. I’m 5’7" tall with a 26" inseam. So this one time I went to meet two business men, a father and son. They were sitting down when I came in. We talked, I could tell they weren’t short as I had to look up a bit (not much, but a bit) to see eye to eye with them.
Came time to leave, and they stood up. Daddy was 6’8", and the son must have smoked or did something that stunted his growth, as he was only about 6’5". I felt like I was standing between two redwood trees.
These two guys were the two most short waisted tall people I have ever met in my life.
I asked, daddy’s inseam was a foot longer than mine, 36"
Do you mean 18 inches or 28 inches?
Wow, I thought I had this problem but not nearly as much as 18", I am 5’7" with a 28 inseam
My husband has what we call a short wheel-base. He’s long waisted, six feet tall, and our inseams are the same. (30") I’m 5’ 3".
He’s not freakishly disproportionate, but his calves look “compacted.” Bulgingly strong, really, and has short shins and broad flat feet that make me think of a caveman. His toes are kind of clubbed and all shaped differently; they fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. I can just see him planted on the lip of a cliff in front of a cave, ready to ward off saber tooth tigers.
We buy him Big/Tall shirts and men’s “short” jeans. (They don’t call it petite.) 
Many Koreans have inherently long torsos. In international boxing, when the opponent is taller, it’s almost impossible for him to make a low blow.
I mean 18 inches. He’s about 5’ tall.
I have this problem. I’m 5’11" with a 29" inseam. If my legs were proportionate to the rest of my body I’d be 6’2 or 6’3".
Same dimensions as me, although most people think I’m over six foot. I don’t realy see it as a problem tbh.
I am 5’6" with a 32’ inseam. Or, as I tell people, “My torso is 5 feet tall. My legs are 6 feet tall.”
My (younger) brother and I are almost the same height (within a half inch of each other)- but my legs are significantly longer than his. Once he tried to drive my car, and could not reach the pedals - and could not believe that I could.
I’m 5’4" with a 31-32" inseam, and I’m stealing your line. 
Go right ahead.
A co-worker’s wife had only seen me sitting down. When I went to their housewarming, I greeted her and went off.
Her husband later told me that she asked him “Who is that lady in the purple hat?” She was astonished when he told her who it was, as she always thought I was about 5 feet tall!