I don't believe the average height for a man is 5'9"

I'm 5' 6 1/2" and I'm taller than most guys...and I'm only tall-ISH..what do you really tall gals do? (Sparked from a debate from a friend who claims he is 5' 8" and yet I am taller than him in bare feet)...(and 5'6 1/2" is my offical height from the doctor's office) hmmmmmmmmmm

:shrug:

Anecdotes aren't reliable for generalizing to broader populations.

I can only think of a handful of men that are shorter than I am.

I grew up in a wealthy rural corner of New England populated mostly by hearty-stocked Northern Europeans (Poles, Germans, Scots, Scandinavians. Some Irish and WASPy types.) and mostly the grandchildren of farmers. The average height of males in my graduating class from prep school was well over 5'9". It might have been over 6' even, I'm tall (6'3") but I wasn't that much taller than the average among my peers.

however, men do typically exaggerate their heights. I remember many years back, a guy was chatting up a girl and told him he was 6 feet tall. I was right next to the guy in a crowded room and rolled my eyes when he said that, as he was a bit shorter than me... when he left, the woman asked me how tall I thought he was. I told the woman I'm 5'9", so she said that meant he was probably 5'8" That's a bit extreme - usually guys will give themselves an extra inch or two.

But, it's not only guys that do it, either. My ex-wife used to say she was 5'1" - however, I'm guessing that unless she wore 10 pairs of thick socks on her feet, she was closer to 4'11" than she was to 5'1" (and, a friend of my wife will tell people she is 5'2", but she's probably closer to 5'0")

It is not my experience that most men are under 5'6". I would guess maybe only 10% are that short. Maybe another 10-15% between 5'6" and 5'8". About 60% between 5'8" and 6'". And the remaining 15-20% taller than that.

You should ask him when was the last time they measured his height. Is he middle age or older? If so, he probably has shrunk.

Also, when do you usually see this friend of yours? Afternoon or later? I thought towards the end of the day people were shorter than when they first woke up in the morning. But you should be shorter too so that shouldn't matter.

Maybe he measured himself and needs to wear glasses and did the measuring without the corrective eye wear. If you can find out how he measures himself without him knowing it maybe you could sneak in and change it so he gets different results. Maybe change the measuring device so it is missing some inch marks.

which may not be that odd, since I think the average height for a U. S. American (channeling Miss Teen South Carolina here) male is something like 5'10-1/2".

You are definitely right about the height overstating that many guys do. I've known several who claim to be two or three inches taller than they actually are. (I only add 1/4" myself, which doesn't seem too excessive. haha) I remember one guy I used to work with who claimed 6'- even though he was only about an inch taller than me with his boots on.

At the same time, I don't blame many guys for being hung up on the height issue and trying to overstate; many more women than men seem to be preoccupied with the heights of members of the opposite sex. I've never really understood that whole thing; it's one of the last things I notice about someone.

Mr. Brickbat, however, is 6'3".

Maybe it's because I live in a place full of tall, blond Scandinavians!

my fiancee is 5'11".

As for what really tall gals do, they meet up and date nice-looking shorter guys.

women who nix shorter men as date are FOOLISH!!! :D

apparent height is to stand on a stack of 1000 dollar bills.

that works for me.

And pretty average.

I remember hearing a while back that Schwarzenegger claims to be 6'1" when he's more like 5'10". My dad also worked in the criminal justice center in downtown Memphis when they shot The Firm, and he walked right by Tom Cruise one day and said that Cruise, who claims to be 5'7", isn't even close to being that tall.

About a half inch shorter now, but I always felt I was about average height compared with the guys I've hung around with.

FWIW, I dated some tall women in the past and height was never a problem.

Wait.


What?