“Wow, you’re tall!” If you’re a tall woman, you’ve heard this a million times. People keeping pointing out the obvious: your height.
Are you a very tall woman who hates when people comment about your height?
Do you ever feel tempted to reply, “I ALREADY know I’m tall. Why are you pointing out the obvious?”?
At 5-8, I’m not tall enough to hear anyone tell me, “Gee, you’re tall.”
But how I’d love to hear those words!
The only time someone ever told me, “You’re tall,” was at a grocery store.
An elderly lady couldn’t reach something, noticed me and said, “Excuse me, you’re tall, can you get something on the top shelf for me?”
I wonder how many of these tall women, who hate hearing that they’re “so tall,” are guilty of the very thing that they criticize: pointing out to someone the obvious.
Ask yourself if you’ve ever committed the act yourself of pointing out the obvious to someone — not about their height, but about something else that was blaringly obvious to them, such as:
“Gee, your dog is so big!”
“Wow, your lawn is so green!”
“My goodness, your daughter’s hair is so curly!”
“Wow, your baby’s eyes are so big!”
“Ooooh, what a tiny dog you have!”
“God, your boyfriend has so many tattoos!”
Have you never, never, never made any comments like this to anyone?
Do you ever intentionally fire back what you know is a rude response?
What if the owner of the huge dog clapped back at you after you commented how big their dog was?
Or, what if someone sniped back at you, “My hair is so long?? Thanks for pointing that out; I never noticed!” How would you feel?
Well, that’s what people think of you when you get smart-mouthed just because they tell you you’re tall.
A common complaint is: “Nobody would ever go up to a fat person and say, “You’re fat.”
But this is not a fair comparison, because obesity is regarded as something undesirable, whereas a lot of height is viewed as something positive — even if the person making the observation wouldn’t want to be that tall.
Extra height is commonly envied. Obesity is not.
Right now, how many people do you know who want to be overweight?
Now, how many people do you know who wish they were taller?
Next time someone comments about your height, give them the best, most gracious reply: “Thank you!” Who knows, that person might be envying you like mad.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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