# Do you physically size people up when you meet them? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 28, 2015, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808 "2015-11-28T05:35:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/21 "2015-11-28T16:43:17Z")
> [@pool](#): > > Maybe this is more a male thing or maybe it’s just the way my brain works but when I meet or interact with new people I often size them up based on how they physically look and try to figure out if I would be able to defeat them in a confrontation if for some random reason that happened to occur. Obviously you can’t know for a fact the guy could be some amateur mma fighter or something I also look for if they have any obvious weak points. It might be a little bit of instinct or just a fun mental game, I’m not sure, does anybody else do this? No, of course not. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/22 "2015-11-28T16:49:27Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > 90% of adults I meet would be able to at least knock me unconscious pretty quickly, so it would probably just make me terrified of going outside. Me too. I assume everyone could beat me in a fight, so there’s nothing really to “size up.” I’ve never had the need to figure it out, never been in a fight. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/23 "2015-11-28T19:05:47Z")
Heh. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/24 "2015-11-28T19:20:11Z")
Would never occur to me. I’ve been in fights during my life but managing a good outcome for myself (or failing to do so) has rarely had jack shit to do with what you’re talking about. Only once in my life has someone gone at me with the (apparent) intention of either doing me in or die trying, and I handled that by getting outside intervention. Most of the rest of them were handled by some form of psychological negotiation: the person beating me up decides that they have now completed the act of beating me up and humiliating me, and conveys that to me and whoever else was standing around watching, or I bluff my way out of it with eye contact and body language and they back off, or I send the right signals to communicate my lack of intent to challenge their authority and that is satisfactory to them, or I succeed in getting the surrounding crowd to support me and ask the other person “WTF is your problem with **Ahunter3** ”, or whavever. Probably I notice on some subliminal level and my behavior is different when the person is bulky and in good shape than when they’re in no better form than I am, but I don’t size people up like you’re talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/25 "2015-11-28T19:24:45Z")
Yes, at least for men but it isn’t usually to assess threats. At 6’1" or 6’2", I am taller and have a bigger build than the vast majority of people especially in the Boston area. I like being taller than average but I also don’t like towering over people and making them self-conscious if they are rather short. I try to adjust my position to minimize the difference most of the time. However, my workplace is dominated by recent Portuguese immigrants and they tend to be on the short side. I sometimes need to assert authority over them and get them to just be quiet and listen. I have learned to stand closer to them in those cases to use my height as an advantage because it does work. I was on a project team recently with a Swede, an ex-athlete and a giant Irish man. The average height of all of us was about 6’4" and that was only because I was the short one. It was a very odd feeling to be around a group of people that physically intimidating because it hardly ever happens to me. With women, I couldn’t tell you the first thing about how tall most of them are even if I have known them for years. Hotness, beauty and fitness yes but I simply don’t notice women’s height at all unless it was way outside of the normal range. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/26 "2015-11-28T21:06:57Z")
Uh, not remotely. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/27 "2015-11-28T21:13:50Z")
No, I don’t at all. But I make a mental note of guys who feel they have to show superior aggressiveness to indicate they can challenge me. I avoid such behavior and find it an indication of failure of character. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/28 "2015-11-28T21:27:49Z")
No. I might sometimes think “That guy looks tough” or “I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley” or something of that sort, but there’s no sizing them up for a fight like you describe in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/29 "2015-11-28T22:09:45Z")
No, why would I? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/30 "2015-11-28T22:46:11Z")
I do. But the only person that ever walked in that I thought I didn’t have a chance with was Neil De Grasse Tyson. Any dude that can take down a planet is a dude you don’t wanna mess with. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/31 "2015-11-29T00:11:35Z")
Lil bit, yeah. Probably because I am whisp of a girl, for one, so everybody is pretty much bigger than me. And for two, I have been physically overpowered inmy life, so, yeah, I do. It’s just habit though, no reflection on you, to be honest. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/32 "2015-11-29T00:30:06Z")
The only time I do this is when, upon meeting somebody, they give you one of those crazy firm handshakes. It’s almost if it’s some sort of unspoken male pissing contest. Those people put me on “alert” so to speak. As I tend to think people like that are prone to anger and violence. I acknowledge, that this probably isn’t fair to the vast majority of “firm” handshakers as most of them are probably well balanced people. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/33 "2015-11-29T00:31:16Z")
Nah, most people are smaller than me to the degree that they’d need a weapon or Chuck Norris to take me down, so I don’t bother. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/34 "2015-11-29T00:50:51Z")
BTW, this isn’t some weird thing that only applies to men. My oldest daughter is 13 and growing rapidly. She is currently about 5’5" on her way up to 5’9"+ probably. We went to Thanksgiving that included adopted cousins of Chinese descent. The first thing that everyone remarked about when my daughter walked in the door was how tall she had gotten and then her older adopted cousins went straight for a lineup for comparison. It didn’t take five minutes for someone to break out a tape measure for official measures. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/35 "2015-11-29T01:12:37Z")
Sort of. I do a quick rundown of whether the person is a potential or likely threat, and if so, what kind. Most people do this automatically, anyway, especially if you live in a city. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/36 "2015-11-29T01:14:50Z")
Sometimes. I did Kenpo karate for 5 years when I was younger. Sometimes I still catch myself thinking if we had to go for it I’d do the “leap of death” or the “5 count chop” or one of multiple techniques for the dickwad that wants to do the bonecrusher handshake. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/37 "2015-11-29T01:28:26Z")
Nope. I figure that if it comes to violence I’m going to shiv him when his back’s turned anyway. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/38 "2015-11-29T01:41:23Z")
No. I can’t think why I would need to. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/39 "2015-11-29T01:42:25Z")
I always give them a sock on the jaw to see if they can take it. If they can, we usually go pull a bender that night. I only hang out with real men. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808/40 "2015-11-29T02:40:40Z")
No. Then again, I’m not likely to best anyone in a fight, so it would be pointless. It would be like wondering if everyone you meet can fly. The answer is already known, so the question is never asked. I’m analyzing your gait, though.\* You’re using your cane on the wrong side. Your SI joint is totally frozen. My back hurts just watching that.\* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-physically-size-people-up-when-you-meet-them/738808.md?page=3)