I’m mostly around people of English, Italian, Asian, Irish, Russian, Latin, and other such European descent. I suppose there are some Scandinavian and Dutch, as there are some African. I know many of my friends that say it are teasing me, but the last 5-10 people I met commented on how short I was. One even yelled across the store “stop trying to be tall!” when I was trying on a pair of 1 1/2 inch heel knee-high boots. It sucks being a short girl in a tall person’s world. 
Heh. I am reminded of a column Harlan Ellison wrote (An Edge in My Voice) in which he describes his correspondence with a “little” reader who objected to Ellison’s use of midgets as sinister characters in a couple of his stories. The complainant adds: “we prefer to be called little people.”
Ellison, taken aback (yeah, like that ever happens), replied: “I am five feet, four inches tall. I am a little person. You, sir, are a midget.”
I once read somewhere that in some far off place, when a child was able to reach over the top of his head and touch the opposite ear, he was old enough to start school. Seems about right that at about 6 yrs old most kids can do that.
I can’t possibly be the only person who thought of leprecauns when I read the title, can I?
Vixenation writes:
> I guess when the average height of your female classmates
> from junior high to college is about 5’7-8, you tend to look much
> shorter.
I suspect that the average height of your female classmates was not that tall. I’ve noticed that many people tend to overestimate the average height of the people they’re with. A lot of people, when asked the average height of the adult American man, will guess that it’s about 6’, which is actually almost three inches taller than the average.
> I know many of my friends that say it are teasing me, but the
> last 5-10 people I met commented on how short I was.
If I were you, I would tell these people to mind their own business. When I hear some child say, “Hey, Mommy, look at the short man,” I ignore it as coming from someone who hasn’t learned yet that you don’t make personal comments about people in the street. When I hear an adult saying such a thing, I get away from them as fast as possible or I tell them to mind their own business. Any adult should know that you don’t bother people with such things.