Can anyone really tell if you stretch the truth a few inches? I’ll admit to it that I stand only 5 foot 1½. But when asked the question I hate most, do I lie and stretch to 5’2” without hesitation? You bet. Sometimes 5‘3” if I’ve had my Wheaties that day. Celebrities and athletes allegedly have been caught stretching their true length. Reasons are probably endless, but we live in a culture that is favorable to the tall. Hulk Hogan told Larry King he was 6’7”, but really stands 6’4”. What do the three inches pulled literally out of thin air mean?
Because we live in a culture where status is ever so important, height is a subconscious indicator of rank and power. Height can be intimidating and therefore having influence right from the get- go. According to Satoshi Kanazaw in the article “Why Men Lie and Women Lie Down. Gender trends suggested that women tend to lie about weight, whereas men lie about height. “Whether in personal ads or in face-to-face conversations, men tend to lie about their earnings and their height. In contrast, women tend to lie about their age and their weight.”
This theory is seemingly changing now with the rise of women in business over the last decades. Women want to be taller and more powerful, too. Height is the single most obvious physical trait in the first impression. Being short is usually perceived with being younger, and therefore inexperienced. So ladies, wear the heels to the interview, it could only help.
Let’s talk about big and tall my friends. Heft. Poundage. Blubber. Hauling extra lbs is as inevitable as Barack Obama rolling up his sleeves. We’re all mini Oprah’s when it comes down to it. We eat well, we eat poorly, then way too much of it. We work out and then we become weighted by our slothfulness, we cannot be budged out of the house. The past few weeks I’ve been sedentary after typically long Mondays at the office, my food of choice has been greatly influenced by the fixins’ in my frig. Staples of late have included black beans, cheese quesadillas, salsa, diet Pepsi, coconut water, beer and red wine. Then off to watch some TV about what else: Extremely obsess people losing weight.
