# People whose heights surprise you **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 10, 2020, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732 "2020-08-10T16:56:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/41 "2020-08-13T02:25:16Z")
I remember reading an interview with Julie London once, who was on Emergency!, in which she remarked how odd it was that while she was actually petite at 5’2", she appeared taller on screen, while her husband, Bobby Troup, was 6’2" but appeared shorter. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/42 "2020-08-13T02:37:26Z")
As I mentioned in another thread, two that surprised me are Keira Knightley and Rihanna. For some reason I always felt they look short. If you had asked me I would have guessed they were around 5’2". But Knightley is 5’7" and Rihanna is 5’8" - both above average height for women. Another one that only works if you watch the Try Channel on YouTube is Dermot Ward. The format of the videos is we only seeing him sitting down. But he’s six feet tall. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/43 "2020-08-13T03:34:02Z")
I met Kurt Vonnegut sometime in the early 1990s, when he was about 70. I’m 5’10" and he was well over 6 feet. ([IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0903361/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm) says he was 6’2".) It wasn’t that he was so unusually tall, but IME, it was surprising to meet someone that _old_ who was so much taller than average. (I was in my mid-thirties at the time. Today I’m about five years younger than he was then.) ---
**Author:** ![LegendsofClear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/77aa72/32.png) [@LegendsofClear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LegendsofClear)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/44 "2020-08-13T03:57:28Z")
Bill Gates and his Dad [![](https://i.redd.it/qgftssh3fn411.jpg) ](https://i.redd.it/qgftssh3fn411.jpg) The rock and Obama [https://thehill.com/sites/default/files/blogs/therockandobama\_121514getty.jpg](https://thehill.com/sites/default/files/blogs/therockandobama_121514getty.jpg) Another fun one [![](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/28/8b/8a/288b8a524398f1abe8dd687763452713.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/28/8b/8a/288b8a524398f1abe8dd687763452713.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/45 "2020-08-13T13:18:45Z")
I’ll also point out that if you dont usually see pro athletes in person or close-up, well…imagine seeing Shaq walking down the aisle in your local grocery store. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/46 "2020-08-13T14:23:18Z")
I worked for a guy who was 7’ 1". It’s really hard to describe just how tall that is in words, or even in pictures. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/47 "2020-08-13T15:41:52Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I worked for a guy who was 7’ 1". It’s really hard to describe just how tall that is in words, or even in pictures There is some height where I can’t just look up at someone, i have to back up to see their face. At that point they all seem enormously tall. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/48 "2020-08-13T16:31:09Z")
I guess it’s all about perspective. At 6’2” I’m taller than most, but certainly no giant. A woman I work with is 4’11”. From her point of view, it would be like me walking among 7-footers all day, which would be weird. To her, I’m sure it’s just normal. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/49 "2020-08-13T16:47:38Z")
I’m around 5’3" I once had a boyfriend a foot taller than that. He was, of course, used to be taller than most people around him. One evening we went to see a concert by a musician he liked, and we briefly had the opportunity to meet the gentleman, who was closer to seven feet than six. My boyfriend was a bit freaked and a little intimidated by someone being that much taller than him. Afterward, I leaned over towards him and said “You do know that you’re that much taller than me? Welcome to my world.” ---
**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:** [August 13, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/50 "2020-08-13T17:14:14Z")
My brother is 6’ 4", his wife 6’, and their son is 6’ 1" (with another 4" of curly hair). They spent a month touring China and were frequently mobbed by local people who wanted their pictures taken with them. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/51 "2020-08-13T17:27:43Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Like, being with a group of people who seem “normal” height “like me”, then being joined by some great lumbering brute who sticks out like a sore thumb. Then, realizing our eye level is the same\*, or maybe he’s even a shade shorter than me. Before he showed up, I was the AT-AT Yeah, I’m 6’3" (or was), and for quite a while I would misjudge the height of people who were my height as being taller. Finally figured out that it was because I was used to looking down at most folks (literally and figuratively) and so seeing someone at or near my eye level made them seem taller then me since I had to raise my gaze (to more nearly level) to look them in the eye. ---
**Author:** ![icon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@icon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icon)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/52 "2020-08-13T18:57:04Z")
Through VR it is now possible to experience what it is like to be of a different height (taller or shorter) because your avatar in the vr world can have any stature forcing you to interact with the environment accordingly. I think it would be something definitely cool to try. Back on topic, the height of Sigourney Weaver (5’11") surprised me when she mentioned it as one reason she did not get as many comedy roles as she would have liked (she is great in Galaxy Quest of course). Also, someone I met who surprised me with their height was the wife of a work colleague. He is maybe 6’4"(?) and in pictures of them together appeared appreciably taller, but it wasn’t until I met her in person that I realized she was almost as tall as I was. ``` //i\\ ``` ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/53 "2020-08-13T19:11:57Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > My brother is 6’ 4", his wife 6’, and their son is 6’ 1" (with another 4" of curly hair). > > They spent a month touring China and were frequently mobbed by local people who wanted their pictures taken with them. It should be noted that the interest from locals was probably more from them being foreign than tall (though it probably “helped”). Because the majority of people in the smaller towns, and even a large proportion of people in the cities, have never interacted with anyone that was not Han Chinese. OTOH, while Chinese people are shorter on average than, say, Americans, men over 6ft and women over 5’9, say, are not _that_ rare. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/54 "2020-08-13T19:30:44Z")
I would expect the more recent generations of Chinese are taller than their parents were, and their grandparents, at least in the cities and among the middle-class and higher as they likely would have had better nutrition growing up and not having experienced famine. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/55 "2020-08-13T20:48:59Z")
> [@icon](#): > > Also, someone I met who surprised me with their height was the wife of a work colleague. He is maybe 6’4"(?) and in pictures of them together appeared appreciably taller, but it wasn’t until I met her in person that I realized she was almost as tall as I was. I worked with a guy who was 6’6" and his wife must have been at least 6’2". It was quite uncomfortable to keep my neck tilted back to talk to her at Christmas party with her in very high heels and a dress with a plunging neckline. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/56 "2020-08-14T04:53:41Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I would expect the more recent generations of Chinese are taller than their parents were, and their grandparents, at least in the cities and among the middle-class and higher as they likely would have had better nutrition growing up and not having experienced famine. Yep: taller and fatter. And clothing sizes haven’t caught up. I know many Chinese friends who have trouble buying clothes in their size. And when you see tall people, they are usually wearing clothes that are both too baggy _and_ not long enough. ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/57 "2020-08-14T05:05:14Z")
Kamala Harris is 5’2" according to Google. I really thought she was at least 5 inches taller. She sure seems bigger that that! ---
**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:** [August 14, 2020, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/58 "2020-08-14T10:59:49Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > > [@kayaker](#): > > > > My brother is 6’ 4", his wife 6’, and their son is 6’ 1" (with another 4" of curly hair). > > > > They spent a month touring China and were frequently mobbed by local people who wanted their pictures taken with them. > > It should be noted that the interest from locals was probably more from them being foreign than tall (though it probably “helped”). Yep, the people who gawked were people visiting “the big city” for the first time. ---
**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:** [August 14, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/59 "2020-08-14T16:20:38Z")
she does wear what looks like 2 inch heels a majority of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732/60 "2020-08-14T17:03:36Z")
Michael Crichton was 6-9 and graduated from Med school but never worked as a Dr. But he used that knowledge to create ER. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-whose-heights-surprise-you/917732.md?page=4)