This article was up on Yahoo! this morning. Interesting to say the least. The article doesn't state what the height cut off is for short/tall but I imagine I am in the former category.
The "Facts"
Taller people have a higher IQ, earn more money, get bitten (is that a real word? I don't know, my IQ is too low) by more bugs, and can get more cancer up to and including rectal cancer.
Shorter people live longer, have more kids, have more character, are humorous, and has greater chance of heart disease.
Score:
Tall - 2 positives, 3 negatives
Short - 4 positives, 1 negative
Dubanalysis:
I have lived most of my life as a short man. I am with a woman who is taller than me. My ex-wife was shorter than me. Take that for what you will.
My IQ is around 142-150. I've taken several tests just because. I have done the Wonderlic test and scored a 42-44 out of 50. Tall people have to suffer from flying insect bites, but being lower to the ground I probably get more tick bites. I am the third shortest guy in my office and probably make the average salary. I have no biological kids. My family now has a history of cancer (but no rectal cancer).
What does it all mean? I happen to know how to work smarter and not taller. A taller person would tend to reach on their tippy toes for things that I would often grab a chair for. The taller oafs then have an increased chance of falling down or straining muscles. Also, taller bones mean thinner bones, and short means more compact, concrete-like bones. I am more susceptible to obtaining an eye injury while cutting grass and more likely to be lost forever in a corn maze. I have never experienced this, but to close proximity to the steering wheel, I am more likely to get knocked out by an air bag than to be protected by one. Despite popular belief, I do not have an easier time getting into small spaces, but perhaps that is a factor of my girth and not height.
I can't say I feel tall when I go to my son's football practice. When I extend my arm high for a super high five, they can hit my hand. I had to position myself on the other end of the team photo so as not to look like a bearded 8 year old. Maybe as I continue to coach Rocco throughout his youth I can develop the low five. But the kind where you don't pull the hand away and yell, "too slow!"
Did you know that at 5 feet above the ground, if the world were completely flat, you could see for 11 straight continuous miles? So at 5' 7" +/-, I'm looking at about 11.7 miles. You behemoths are staring at 12+ miles. Good luck sorting out that distorted mess. I would prefer a more accurate line of sight.
Also, I have moved several times, and unfortunately most of those times has been to a second or third floor. As strong as I want to think I am, my shortness tends to rear its ugly head when carrying large pieces of furniture down a flight of stairs. I need to be the bottom so that I can switch my hands at a natural position. My mattress (a Queen-sized Tempurpedic) has handles to lift it, but when I grab a handle to lift it up sideways, it doesn't leave the ground.
I do feel, however, that being lower to the ground, if a taller person goes to run into me and knock me over, they have less of a chance. I can make a stronger blunt object already close to the ground. It is easier to knock over a 100 pound tall tree than a 100 pound boulder. If I ran into a taller person full speed, they take all my force (mass times acceleration times distance or something nerdy like that). You are 5 feet 8", you're missing one extra inch's worth of girth/mass/force behind.
I know every four steps I take is 10 feet, and arms out to my sides, finger tip to finger tip is 5 feet. Keep your fancy measuring implements. Afterall, you have longer pockets to keep them in.
It is, however, very hard to find the perfect 29 inch inseam pants. If only Kiddie City was still around.
All in all, no matter your height, life is a tall order and too short for us to all really know if this even matters or not.
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