• Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    But even the UK is much taller than the global average and you’d be short at 170cm.

    In any case, I don’t really see the region as being relevant; the meme may be limited to a particular region, but I was objecting more to the whole notion of that stereotype. Which is the same regardless of the unit used.

    How tall or short you’re considered is dependant on that region. People are comparing you to the people around you, not to global average.

    • EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      9 months ago

      People are comparing based on incomplete data. It may be short for one country, but there are humans in other countries too. If those countries population were all shorter than the other, would that make them short? No, it would simply adjust what qualifies as normal.

      For a species-wide judgment one needs a species-wide dataset.

      • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        Normality is what you have around you. That’s the context people compare things in, usually. Someone short in the UK might be average elsewhere, but when people say “I’m short” or “he’s tall”, it’s with an unsaid for what I typically see around me implied there.

        • EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          9 months ago

          I fully understand that. I’m not saying people don’t do that; I’m merely saying that it is dumb as it’s an inherently incomplete dataset and therefore not a reliable source of measurement. In other words, I’m talking about what’s objectively normal, not what’s subjectively normal.

          Do people do that? Of course they do; I’m a dumbass, not an idiot. But I also don’t like it, and this is why.