# How tall to officially be 'giant'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 22, 2005, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-to-officially-be-giant/300573 "2005-04-22T09:25:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![flapcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@flapcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flapcats)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-to-officially-be-giant/300573/1 "2005-04-22T09:25:00Z")
A guy at work is 6 foot 5 and we were wondering if he officially qualifies as a giant. We’re in the UK (if that makes any difference). ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-to-officially-be-giant/300573/2 "2005-04-22T13:54:50Z")
It is relative to what you would consider abnormally large. Define your parameters for abnormal. If only 9% of the population is 6’5" or taller, is that ‘abnormal’ ? Probably not. Medical definitions of abnormal would probably adress folks in a very tiny percentage of the population. Well over 7’ would be approaching ‘abnormal’. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-to-officially-be-giant/300573/3 "2005-04-22T16:38:40Z")
Seeing as how on a good day (with shoes on) I am 6’4, I’d hate to think that I qualify as a giant. I’d say over 7’6 … You know, guys like Manute Bol. Or perhaps Tall is just 15 inches taller than you are. Theres a quote somewhere near there. I can’t speak for anyone else, but we don’t feel huge… Yes we might have to duck to enter a doorway here and there, but we have lived with our body for our entire life (Isn’t that convient?) so we don’t “see” our self as huge. It’s kinda like it looses its effect after you see “you” day in and day out. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-to-officially-be-giant/300573/4 "2005-04-22T16:54:12Z")
I just did some googleing… Goliath was anywhere from 9-10.5 feet tall. I think we have a ways to go still. ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-to-officially-be-giant/300573/5 "2005-04-22T16:57:53Z")
From [here.](http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/gigantism) > [@](#): > > Gigantism (from Greek gigas, gigantos “giant”) is a condition characterised by excessive height growth. Gigantism (or giantism) is not a currently used medical term and there is no precise definition of the degree of tallness which qualifies a person to be termed a “giant.” The term has been typically applied to those whose height is not just in the upper 1% of the populaton but several standard deviations above mean for persons of the same sex, age, and ethnic ancestry. Typical adult heights of Americans and Europeans to whom the term might be applied are 7.5 to 8.5 feet (216-259 cm), although the term is rarely applied to basketball players and those whose heights appear to be the healthy result of normal genetics and nutrition. So the answer is 7’6". ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-to-officially-be-giant/300573/6 "2005-04-22T17:01:28Z")
> [@Danalan](#): > > So the answer is 7’6". Unless you play basketball. ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-to-officially-be-giant/300573/7 "2005-04-22T17:19:32Z")
I do time out entertainment for the Orlando Magic (NBA). As a person who routinely sees professional basketball players, a person of 6’5" isn’t even close to giant. I’ve stood close enough to Yao Ming to discover that my head hardly reaches his hip. He’s huge, even by NBA averages. I’m 5’6" BTW. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-to-officially-be-giant/300573/8 "2005-04-23T00:27:10Z")
there is a young man from china the nba pros are looking at. he is 7’8". i think that is a bit tall. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-to-officially-be-giant/300573/9 "2005-04-23T01:15:09Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Unless you play basketball. Actually, there’s nobody in the NBA that is taller than 7’6. I thought the tallest was 7’2 - 7’4. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-to-officially-be-giant/300573/10 "2005-04-23T02:07:40Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > I can’t speak for anyone else, but we don’t feel huge… Yes we might have to duck to enter a doorway here and there, but we have lived with our body for our entire life (Isn’t that convient?) so we don’t “see” our self as huge. It’s kinda like it looses its effect after you see “you” day in and day out. Yeah, I’m 6’5", and I don’t think I’m a ‘giant’. Incidentally, I _do_ notice that certain other people are quite tall though. For example, I went in to a store a few months ago and thought ‘Wow, that clerk is really tall’, but when I passed by him I realized I was at least the same height, which was odd. I’d say it’s because I’m so used to everyone else being at least 3" shorter, that those times I see someone approaching my height stand out more. I wonder if it’s the same for very short people… Just to qualify for GQ-ness, [here’s a list](http://www.nba.com/draft2004/profiles/bySize.html) of prospective NBA players sorted by height. Looks like 7’5" is the top still. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-to-officially-be-giant/300573/11 "2005-04-23T02:28:40Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > I just did some googleing… Goliath was anywhere from 9-10.5 feet tall. I think we have a ways to go still. Extremely doubtful. The tallest person backed up by actual medical records was Robert Pershing Wadlow who was just shy of 9 feet (8’ 11" and a smidgen). The number of people who have been accurately measured at 8 feet or taller is very small (we’re talking one or two dozen). My 1988 Guinness Book mentions the 9’ 6" height attributed to Goliath of Gath and says it “…suggests a confusion of units or some over-enthusiastic exaggeration by the Hebrew chroniclers.” They go on to mention that the historian Flavius Hosephus and the Septaugint put Goliath at “4 Greek cubits and a span (6’ 10”)" which is certainly pretty damn tall but well within the realm of possibility. And someone 6’ 10" can be athletic whereas people like Wadlow typically have trouble even standing up.