Blowero, I’ve read the stats also.
But I’ve been 5’8" all my adult life.
Most men are taller than me.
When I was single, 2 out of 3 women (my guess but probably accurate) wouldn’t date me because 5’8" is too short.
5’8" is short, no matter what stats you bring up.
Yeah. I would just like to say that I really didn’t mean to sound as if I was THAT pissed off in response to Homebrew. It might have came out wrong. The fact is, I was wrong about what Homebrew was saying in the first place; twice! Any type of frustration towards him was simply wrong because I made a mistake in reading his posts. The first response I was a little frustrated, but the second I really wasn’t at all… But, like I said, I could see where it might be perceived that way.
I don’t think I was wrong in saying what I did if he WAS really accusing me of what I thought he was, but there’s no way to justify my response to him now that I know what he was really trying to say.
This is sort of an extra sensitive subject since I was recently temporarily banned from a message board service where I was accused of posing as two different posters. I wasn’t, and it was proven so I was invited back and apologized to. I’m really not someone who overreacts to anything that offends or pisses me off (at least not to anyone’s face). In fact, I’ve been told by many people that I don’t stand up for myself as much as I should.
A lot of the reason why I don’t is because I often make errors, not unlike the one I made in this thread.
This being the Pit, I bitched about the situation. It’s pretty therapeutic actually. In real life, however, I’m not really aggressive. Joanna and I just hung out tonight, and the situation didn’t even come up. I can’t say that I’m not still upset, but that’s the beauty of these boards, you can say what‘s on your mind. Joanna’s heard what I had to say, and that’s the end of that. The situation still lingers in my mind, and probably will for a long time, but if I can get advice from these boards, (including Homebrew’s), and hearing about people who can relate, I end up feeling a lot better.
Not to quibble, but more accurately, slightly more than 1/2 of men are taller than you. According to this site:
http://www.shortsupport.org/Research/analyzer.html
The median height for men is 5’8 1/2". If you are exactly 5’8" and no more, then 56.5% of men are taller than you. A slim majority, not most. For DiffT, 88% of men are taller.
My point was that you are only “short” by about an inch, yet women obviously perceive you as being way below average, because many women’s preference is for much taller than average men.
Relax, o.k.? I’m not trying to call you a liar; I was just making a point about societal bias.
I would not trust that webpage cited by blowero. The conversion from metric to English units isn’t even correct. I’ve checked several webpages about average heights, and it looks to me like the average height for adult American men is 5’ 9.1" and the average height for adult American women is 5’ 4.0". It’s very common for people to overestimate the average height. I sometimes hear people guess that the average height for men is 6’.
Average is not the same as median. I already cited the average male height as 5’ 9 1/2". That doesn’t mean that if you are 5’9", that half of all men are taller than you, which is why I also posted the median height. That was the only site I could find that listed median height.
Right. That was my point. People think that 6’ is average, when it is in fact quite a bit above average.
Here’s a website that says the average height is 5’ 9.1":
http://www.acs.ohio-state.edu/units/research/archive/taller.htm
Yes, I know the difference between mean, mode, and median. I’m a mathematician, after all. All three things can be be called just the average. I have no reason to think that the median is different from the mean.
I’ve never posted in the BBQ Pit before but I’m going to go ahead and don my Savage Love hat.
You knew it was a bad idea going in, yet you did. Now you’re upset? Get over it. What happened is exactly what you feared would happen. You should have trusted your gut. Blind dates are ALWAYS a bad idea.
You’re wondering whether you have a right to be pissed at Joanna? If Joanna told you she has a hot stock tip, you spent a lot of money on that stock and it tanked, would you have a right to be pissed at Joanna? Sure. If you’re rully, rully stooooopit! Never take stock tips from friends (unless they’re named Gates, Bush or Cheney) and never, ever go into a blind date expecting anything but total disaster!
You have no right to choose Joanna’s friends for her. You only have a right to choose your own. If I had to approve & get along with every one of my friend’s friends, I’d be one lonely ass loser.
Do you have Napoleon Complex? Dunno.
Do you stand up for yourself because you know a lot of people are willing to take advantage of you/dump on you/ treat you like shit because of your height? And you’re perceived as “spunky” because of it? No.
Are you over-sensitive & figure every time someone doesn’t react to you how you wish, they must be discriminating against you because of your height? Are you pushy, arrogant, step-on-everyone-in-my-way-general-pain-in-the-ass-over-achiever that no one can stand to be around because of this? Then yes.
It’s been studied and pretty well established that shorter people pretty much get the shaft in life, everything else being equal (short tank drivers & astronauts are preferred, from what I understand, and tallies die sooner). So why aren’t the courts filled with height discrimination cases? Seems like everyone else sues at the drop of a dime for just about any reason. I don’t know. If they ever form lynch mobs seeking out “shorties” I, and probably everyone else on this board would be right there with you to fight. You really going to get so upset because of some moron bimbo?
As has been pointed out in this thread, there are plenty of short, medium and tall types, both female and male, that would be more than happy to entertain you as a date. Give them a chance, and let the jerks of the world keep to themselves.
I really don’t know where you’re getting this from.
Sue did discriminate, imho, I think I have a lot of support for that on these boards… I also got mixed support for my being angry with Joanna. Where did you get the idea that if someone doesn’t react the way I want them to, that I think they are discriminating against my height? What evidence do you have of this? What evidence do you have of me being an over achiever? In no way am I an over achiever. If you’re going to post your thoughts like that, then I think it’s only fair that I get a chance to defend myself. So please, I am hardly being pushy or arrogant asking you to back up these claims of yours.
Who did I step on in my way?
Where are you getting this? Maybe then I could be given a chance to retort. If this is about my posts Homebrew, I already apologized because it was a misunderstanding. I said nothing negative about his posts once I realized what he was really trying to say, which was criticism. At least when he first criticized me, he didn’t write a post that could have been summed up as “you’re an asshole,” like you did. When I barked at him thinking he was claiming something else, then he did, and rightfully so. What exactly did I do to you to make you speak so ill of me? Was it the way I presented myself, if so … what did I say?
In response to the other things you’ve said:
I thought it was a bad idea, but as it’s been pointed out on this thread, blind dates can have good results. I had assurance from Joanna, so I went with it. This is HARDLY like investing all of my money in a stock that Joanna is 100% sure can’t fail. The likelihood of a date ending up so badly even before it started is VERY slim, unless you’re dealing with a… “moron bimbo.” I didn’t even get a chance to fuck it up. I didn’t even get the chance to not fuck it up. So no, I wouldn’t say it’s like giving a friend a lot of my money to invest. YOU ARE RIGHT however that I shouldn’t have done it with all of the doubt I had. I did it as a favor to my friend who begged me and promised me it would not turn out bad. So yes, I was mad at her, and she apologized. You have to remember, I didn’t handle this with her the way I did on these boards. Not at all. I used these boards to let out my frustration. In fact, I reserved a lot of anger towards her UNTIL I got suggestions from these boards. I didn’t want say anything I would regret until I both vented and got suggestions. That’s what I did. I even wrote in these boards that we went out the other night, and I didn’t even SPEAK of it. That is a result of the suggestions I got in the pit. I mean, this IS the pit. You could hardly blame me for getting this upset when people come here getting pissed off over the most mundane shit. That’s what it’s here for, at least that’s what I thought.
You say:
Do you stand up for yourself because you know a lot of people are willing to take advantage of you/dump on you/ treat you like shit because of your height? And you’re perceived as “spunky” because of it? No.
What exactly do you think I should have done? Egged her home? Prank phone calls?
Maybe it’s me, and maybe I wasn’t as clear as I should have been in my posts, but I don’t know where you’re getting a lot of this. If you told me, then maybe I could reexamine myself, but for now… I don’t know what you’re talking about.
I just want to say that 5’ 8" is not short in my book. I am 5’ 4", and as long as you are a teensy bit taller than me, you are “tall” to me. I have shocked a few guys by assuming they are tall because they are taller than me. (As in, “You’re tall, can you reach that thing on the top shelf for me?”) They protest and say, “But I’m short!” Not to me they aren’t.
I like tall too, don’t get me wrong, but what’s the problem with the same height as me or only a little taller? Shorter is fine too; it’s not a big deal. Some of these short guys are cute as buttons (and I mean that in a flattering, attractive context). Like Mark Hamill as “Luke Skywalker”. I don’t know how short or tall he is and I don’t care—he’s cute.
I don’t understand some women who have a complex about height. It should be a minor issue.
All I said was, “if you’re this, this & this then no, you don’t have Napoleon Complex. If you’re this, this & this then yes, you do.”
I wasn’t accusing you of anything. However, you do now strike me as over-sensitive.
You have strong feelings about what happened. It seems to me you need people here to affirm your feelings. You seem really defensive of anyone who doesn’t affirm your feelings. Maybe you should start by just admitting your feelings, and work from there.
You’re really pissed. Go grab your pillow and punch the fuck out of it. Go write a really nasty letter to this stupid ugly nasty moronic fucking stuck up ignorant bitch. But don’t send it! Go jog around the park. No, go run around the park. Really fast. Until you work off this anger & frustration.
We’ve all been made to feel really stupid & bad about ourselves. You have to work through it.
You came here because you needed to vent. So vent. If you don’t want our opinions, just say so. If you only want opinions you like, I don’t think we can help you.
Well, you can maybe see where I could be confused by the way you worded that.
I don’t mind advice. Now that there’s clarity to your post, it doesn’t sound bad at all. I see what you’re saying and I agree.
It just sounded to me like you were literally saying: “are you this, this, and this? Yes”
It would be consistent with you saying: “Do you have Napoleon Complex? Dunno.” Which is literally directed towards me.
I didn’t mind if you were pointing out certain character traits that I had, I just wanted to know where they were coming from. Examples for my posts on these boards.
[sneeze] aaahhh ahhhhh ahhhhhh bbbuuullllsshhiittt [/sneeze]
Tell you what, I’m going christmas shopping tonight. I will be impartial and stand at a corner of the mall and will do an informal sample of men taller, same or shorter than me. Ok?
I am positive it will not be slightly more than half but will keep an open mind.
Waitaminnit…
If andymurph64 lives in Minnesota, maybe he’s surrounded by descendents of Scandinavians that have a greater average height than say Chinatown in San Francisco.
Informal survey while standing in line at Burger King for lunch…
11 people.
8 taller
2 shorter
1 same