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W hy don’t tall people get the same sympathy as short people？ Everyone feels sorry for minnows， cutting them slack when they talk loudly in meetings or get themselves elected Speaker of the House of Commons.1 But tall people are seen as life’s victors； the ones you want to be， the ones who get everything their own way. It just isn’t the case.
I’m not actually that tall—6ft 1in2—but even I encounter problems. Cash points3 are too low， hotel beds are too short， train seats don’t have enough leg room. In the days of phone boxes， I spent every call hunched over4. I regularly have to bend at the knees to use mirrors， and am sometimes forced to take showers kneeling down， because the head hasn’t been fixed high enough up the wall. What’s that you say？ Have a bath instead？ I would—if that wasn’t too short as well. It’s a choice between sitting bolt upright or resting my feet against the tiles somewhere near the ceiling.5
It was only when talking to a friend who’s 6ft 6in that I realized just how troublesome clothing can be. All I’ve ever had to do is buy shirts with extra-long sleeves， but Rob has an extra problem with casual shirts. “They all expose my navel6 when I stretch. And not in a winsome7， sexy way.” Trousers are a nightmare. My inside leg8 is 34 inches， Rob’s is 36， and apparently those extra two inches make all the difference. Rob once walked into a tailor’s on Jermyn Street and asked if they had anything to fit him. “The bloke9 held up a tie.”
It’s even worse for women. “There’s a shop called Long Tall Sally that every tall woman goes to once，” says my friend Emma （6ft）. “You’re desperately hoping you’ll find a pair of trousers that go all the way down to your shoes. The customers lurk between the rails of polyester stretch， taking furtive glances at each other，10 all thinking：‘Well at least I’m not that tall.’” Emma’s amazed at people’s attitudes when they meet her. “They think it’s perfectly fine to say， ‘God you’re tall， do you find it difficult to get shoes？’” Imagine if I said to a fat stranger，‘Do you find it difficult to get clothes？’”
Then there’s the matter of relationships. How often do you see a woman with a man shorter than her？ There’s the odd exception—the ex-Mrs Bernie Ecclestone， for instance—but for whatever reason it seems to be a nono.11 Germaine Greer12 （6ft） says she never learned to dance backwards because she always had to take the male role. Some tall women （and indeed men） hunch their shoulders in an attempt to hide their height. The habit never goes away， no matter how successful you become.
Tall poppy syndrome13， of course， that’s what they call it. Rosamund Beattie （6ft 4in）， a member of the Tall Persons Club of London—not a joke， they really do find life difficult—says it’s like being famous but without the money. The club’s website relates that tall children are disproportionately likely to be bullied at school.14 Roughly half the members of Tall Persons Club are women. It’s even worse for tall girls and women. The taller woman will sometimes find herself discriminated against in the job market because of the 5ft 8in male boss’s fragile ego.
There can also be health problems. Even if the “averagely tall” like me don’t suffer health issues， we do encounter regular irritations. The glass shelves that stand above bars in many pubs—I can only order my round15 by squatting slightly. Someone my height could never work behind that bar： they’d be in agony after the first shift.16
Yes， I know all this is going to sound rich to someone of below average height. “I’ll swap17 places with you，” they’ll be saying. Fair enough. On balance I’d rather be 6ft 1in than 5ft 5in. But it’s still true that， as so often， a supposedly desirable outcome in life is slightly less desirable than you might think. Before you look at a tall person and say you wish you were them， walk a mile in their shoes. Assuming they’ve been able to find any.
1. minnow： 微不足道的人，此處指矮个子的人；cut sb. slack： 给（某人）方便，对（某人）网开一面，slack是松弛的意思；House of Commons：（英国或加拿大议会中的）下议院，众议院。
2. 6ft 1in： 6 feet 1 inch，6英尺1英寸，约等于1.85米。
3. cash point： 自动提款机。
4. hunch over： 弯腰驼背。
5.要么在浴缸里坐直身子，要么就得把脚伸到离天花板不远的某片瓷砖上。bolt upright： 笔直地；tile： 瓷砖。
6. navel： 肚脐。
7. winsome： 惹人喜爱的，迷人的。
8. inside leg： 内侧裤长。
9. bloke： 人，家伙。
10. lurk： 偷偷地行动；rail： 挂衣杆； polyester：聚酯纤维，涤纶；stretch： 伸展性，弹性，这里指弹性好的衣服；furtive： 偷偷摸摸的。
11. Bernie Ecclestone： 伯尼·埃克莱斯顿（1930— ），英国富豪，一级方程式（Formula One）掌门人，人称“F1教父”，一个把F1赛事发展为一项与世界杯并驾齐驱的顶级国际大赛的商业奇才，身高为1.65米，ex-Mrs Bernie Ecclestone，即埃克莱斯顿的第一任妻子，克罗地亚名模，两人的婚姻维系了25年；no-no： 禁忌。
12. Germaine Greer： 杰梅茵·格里尔（1939— ），生于澳大利亚，著名的女权主义作家。
13. tall poppy syndrome： 高大罂粟花综合症，是澳大利亚和新西兰的一个流行用语，用来形容一种在社群文化中集体地对某类人的批判态度。当一个人在社会上达到某种程度上的成功时，会惹来社群中不约而同的、自发性的、集体性的批评。
14. disproportionately： 不相称地，太大地；bully： 欺负，霸凌。
15. round：（给群体中每个人的）一杯饮料。
16. 所以像我这种身高的人不能在吧台工作，轮完一次岗简直痛苦至极。agony： 痛苦，煎熬。
17. swap： 交换。
I’m not actually that tall—6ft 1in2—but even I encounter problems. Cash points3 are too low， hotel beds are too short， train seats don’t have enough leg room. In the days of phone boxes， I spent every call hunched over4. I regularly have to bend at the knees to use mirrors， and am sometimes forced to take showers kneeling down， because the head hasn’t been fixed high enough up the wall. What’s that you say？ Have a bath instead？ I would—if that wasn’t too short as well. It’s a choice between sitting bolt upright or resting my feet against the tiles somewhere near the ceiling.5
It was only when talking to a friend who’s 6ft 6in that I realized just how troublesome clothing can be. All I’ve ever had to do is buy shirts with extra-long sleeves， but Rob has an extra problem with casual shirts. “They all expose my navel6 when I stretch. And not in a winsome7， sexy way.” Trousers are a nightmare. My inside leg8 is 34 inches， Rob’s is 36， and apparently those extra two inches make all the difference. Rob once walked into a tailor’s on Jermyn Street and asked if they had anything to fit him. “The bloke9 held up a tie.”
It’s even worse for women. “There’s a shop called Long Tall Sally that every tall woman goes to once，” says my friend Emma （6ft）. “You’re desperately hoping you’ll find a pair of trousers that go all the way down to your shoes. The customers lurk between the rails of polyester stretch， taking furtive glances at each other，10 all thinking：‘Well at least I’m not that tall.’” Emma’s amazed at people’s attitudes when they meet her. “They think it’s perfectly fine to say， ‘God you’re tall， do you find it difficult to get shoes？’” Imagine if I said to a fat stranger，‘Do you find it difficult to get clothes？’”
Then there’s the matter of relationships. How often do you see a woman with a man shorter than her？ There’s the odd exception—the ex-Mrs Bernie Ecclestone， for instance—but for whatever reason it seems to be a nono.11 Germaine Greer12 （6ft） says she never learned to dance backwards because she always had to take the male role. Some tall women （and indeed men） hunch their shoulders in an attempt to hide their height. The habit never goes away， no matter how successful you become.
Tall poppy syndrome13， of course， that’s what they call it. Rosamund Beattie （6ft 4in）， a member of the Tall Persons Club of London—not a joke， they really do find life difficult—says it’s like being famous but without the money. The club’s website relates that tall children are disproportionately likely to be bullied at school.14 Roughly half the members of Tall Persons Club are women. It’s even worse for tall girls and women. The taller woman will sometimes find herself discriminated against in the job market because of the 5ft 8in male boss’s fragile ego.
There can also be health problems. Even if the “averagely tall” like me don’t suffer health issues， we do encounter regular irritations. The glass shelves that stand above bars in many pubs—I can only order my round15 by squatting slightly. Someone my height could never work behind that bar： they’d be in agony after the first shift.16
Yes， I know all this is going to sound rich to someone of below average height. “I’ll swap17 places with you，” they’ll be saying. Fair enough. On balance I’d rather be 6ft 1in than 5ft 5in. But it’s still true that， as so often， a supposedly desirable outcome in life is slightly less desirable than you might think. Before you look at a tall person and say you wish you were them， walk a mile in their shoes. Assuming they’ve been able to find any.
1. minnow： 微不足道的人，此處指矮个子的人；cut sb. slack： 给（某人）方便，对（某人）网开一面，slack是松弛的意思；House of Commons：（英国或加拿大议会中的）下议院，众议院。
2. 6ft 1in： 6 feet 1 inch，6英尺1英寸，约等于1.85米。
3. cash point： 自动提款机。
4. hunch over： 弯腰驼背。
5.要么在浴缸里坐直身子，要么就得把脚伸到离天花板不远的某片瓷砖上。bolt upright： 笔直地；tile： 瓷砖。
6. navel： 肚脐。
7. winsome： 惹人喜爱的，迷人的。
8. inside leg： 内侧裤长。
9. bloke： 人，家伙。
10. lurk： 偷偷地行动；rail： 挂衣杆； polyester：聚酯纤维，涤纶；stretch： 伸展性，弹性，这里指弹性好的衣服；furtive： 偷偷摸摸的。
11. Bernie Ecclestone： 伯尼·埃克莱斯顿（1930— ），英国富豪，一级方程式（Formula One）掌门人，人称“F1教父”，一个把F1赛事发展为一项与世界杯并驾齐驱的顶级国际大赛的商业奇才，身高为1.65米，ex-Mrs Bernie Ecclestone，即埃克莱斯顿的第一任妻子，克罗地亚名模，两人的婚姻维系了25年；no-no： 禁忌。
12. Germaine Greer： 杰梅茵·格里尔（1939— ），生于澳大利亚，著名的女权主义作家。
13. tall poppy syndrome： 高大罂粟花综合症，是澳大利亚和新西兰的一个流行用语，用来形容一种在社群文化中集体地对某类人的批判态度。当一个人在社会上达到某种程度上的成功时，会惹来社群中不约而同的、自发性的、集体性的批评。
14. disproportionately： 不相称地，太大地；bully： 欺负，霸凌。
15. round：（给群体中每个人的）一杯饮料。
16. 所以像我这种身高的人不能在吧台工作，轮完一次岗简直痛苦至极。agony： 痛苦，煎熬。
17. swap： 交换。