Why do some people inform an adult person who is tall of the fact that he or she is tall?

It's a bit like when people tell menopausal women they look a bit 'warm/hot' because their face is red, like we are unaware.

EP Thank you for the links to the audio book versions of The Machine Stops. I've also ordered a book Forster short stories from library which includes this.

Project Gutenberg have the text of Campanella's The City of the Sun.

www.gutenberg.org/files/2816/2816-h/2816-h.htm

Yes, I am tall. One of my friends is quite short but people don’t tell her that she is short!!

Yes thank you.

There are also

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXg6keskkPk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRO26gBlIpg

Searching gave lots of links for The Machine Stops

Also, this got offered

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXkicQRl6vg

I also searched for Campanella's City of the Sun

Thank you Fanny. I didn't know the story but how prophetic is it.

The scene flying over the Himalayas struck me particularly. Over ten years ago, on a flight home to the UK from Hong Kong, when the pilot announced we were passing the Himalayas, it seemed like almost everyone rushed from one side of the plane to the other to look through the windows. I imagined the plane tipping precariously under the imbalanced weight.

In Forster we read this:

'Those mountains to the right – let me show you them.' She pushed back a metal blind. The main chain of the Himalayas was revealed. 'They were once called the Roof of the World, those mountains.'

'You must remember that, before the dawn of civilization, they seemed to be an impenetrable wall that touched the stars. It was supposed that no one but the gods could exist above their summits. How we have advanced, thanks to the Machine!'

'How we have advanced, thanks to the Machine!''’ said Vashti.

'And that white stuff in the cracks? – what is it?'

'I have forgotten its name.'

www.josieholford.com/the-machine-stops/

These words are eerily describing the world we live in today, where people stare at their phones rather than look at what is around them.

Though, I must admit I like the idea of being able to summon the sleeping apparatus on evenings I feel too tired to drag myself up to bed.

Wow! Thank you Silverbridge, that’s very kind of you

FannyCornforth Upthread you wrote ... The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster in which he eerily predicts the internet, and our reliance upon it. and said I first heard of it through a play on Radio 4 about twenty years ago. I was stunned by it.

Written in 1909, it was first broadcast on the BBC in 2001 (starring Gemma Jones as Vashti) and last time in 2016. It isn't currently available on Radio4extra but a kind soul has uploaded it to YouTube:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJk9gk9Ow4I

Listening now over breakfast.

Excellent comments from MOnica, Silverblade and others as well. Interesting conversation.

EP, the youtube link is really nice, thanks for sharing.

I sometimes used to pretend to be shocked and frightened when hearing 'Gosh you're tall!'
'What? Really? Good Lord, I wonder what's happened - I was five foot when I came into the shop/restaurant/etc. Or are you just teasing me because I'm so short?' Once or twice people actually (briefly) seemed to believe me which was good fun, most just enjoyed the joke and would apologise for saying something I no doubt got tired of hearing.
It's amazing the things people say though - to everyone and about everything. Most of them don't mean any harm but it's still quite astonishing. You make some excellent points in various comments here about sexism and racism, EP. Best wishes from a fellow tall' un.

Thank you for explaining.

Was that pre-pandemic or one of the pandemic-times you at the door while he stands back that head office seemed to want when they stopped tray liners?
No, we always went to the shops pre-pandemic.

I have my bags ready and always like a nice chat with the delivery drivers (without holding them up, of course).

<<Sigh>>

Off-topic I know

So observe the height, but get to know the person

I have the habit when using my computer of opening the browser more than once, going to YouTube, searching for My Mix, which is a list that gets compiled automatically from music to which I have listened together with a few things of generally the same genre or performer added in as new-to-me, then I have music playing in the background as I do other things on the computer.

Occasionally I will go to that instantiation of the browser and look at the picture and sometimes the music stops and I need to click that I want to continue.

Anyway this came up and it is a rather nice peaceful line dance with people of various ages, so perhaps some of the people who have kindly participated in this thread might enjoy it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuk-RV6LQSg

Callistemon

pps apart from the very young Tesco delivery driver who kindly told me I could pick up the large crates and empty them from the kitchen worktop if I wished.
I declined and told him I didn't have huge arm muscles like him so he had to wait, rather impatiently, as I unloaded the shopping into bags.

Was that pre-pandemic or one of the pandemic-times you at the door while he stands back that head office seemed to want when they stopped tray liners?

From what I have learned it appears that many of Tesco's customers have decided not to go to the door with bags as suggested by Head Office but have put various things such as boxes, trays and washing baskets on the doorstep and kept the door shut until the driver has left, and so drivers have various modes of working depending upon each customer's situation and choice.

Callistemon

ps I must say our delivery drivers, Tesco and Waitrose, are always lovely

Yes the Tesco drivers that come here are great and indeed that one driver did the job fine. At the time the possibility of sarcasm never crossed my mind.

Deja vu!

pps apart from the very young Tesco delivery driver who kindly told me I could pick up the large crates and empty them from the kitchen worktop if I wished.
I declined and told him I didn't have huge arm muscles like him so he had to wait, rather impatiently, as I unloaded the shopping into bags.

Well, I know sarcasm exists. It is just that I don't recognise it when it is happening. I know that may seem strange, but that is just how I am. At the time I thought he was being kind and considerate in relation to my situation and I thanked him.

It was pre-pandemic. In those days the driver came to the door and knocked. I went to the door and trays of goods were presented for me to unload. By that time Tesco had stopped using bags so it took longer to unload as a bag of six of some small item is much quicker than having to get the six items two at a time.

I must not now nor at that time lift anything above about three kilogrammes so pre-pandemic the regular drivers put a six-pack of 2 litre bottles of water in my hall for me so that I could get it a bottle at a time as needed. Now they put it onto the top doorstep so that I can slide it into the hall. Otherwise I would need to open the pack up with scissors and get bottles in one at a time.

Since the pandemic the grocery has been left on the doorstep for me, first in bags, then tray liners, now I put boxes out and the driver puts the grocery in the boxes and I unload it at my own slow pace after the driver has gone. So in fact quicker for the driver than pre-pandemic, though back then on mid-week afternoons they were not busy. Drivers would sometimes turn up at 3-20 pm and say that they had not got another delivery to 4 pm and not far away. When the pandemic came the situation changed very rapidly and they became much busier and Tesco got more vans and hired more drivers such was the demand.

ps I must say our delivery drivers, Tesco and Waitrose, are always lovely

A Tesco delivery driver, pre-pandemic came here, not one of the regulars. I am somewhat slow of gait doing things. At one stage he said "Take your time, I've got all day" and I replied, quite naturally "Thank you. That's very considerate of you." as I had taken him literally. It was only afterwards that I wondered if he had not meant it literally. I discussed it with friends and they told me their opinions of the matter

EP if he had meant it kindly then that was the right answer.

If, however, he meant it sarcastically because he was in a rush then yes, you gave the right answer again! He shouldn't have been sarcastic to a customer and you would have taken the wind out of his sails by thanking him.

ElderlyPerson
Are you aware of this site?

www.tallclub.co.uk/

ElderlyPerson
So you don’t understand sarcasm?
Did it not cross your mind that no Tesco driver had all day at the height of the pandemic?

Mollygo wrote

> (I’ve done a lot of interviews and height has never come into the discussion about the merits or suitability of the candidates.)

That is good to know.

I did read about a woman who was told by a chain store that they would have hired her but they did not have a uniform that would fit her. But that was not height. I like to think that if I had been in charge I would have got one made specially.

I wonder if height is - or could become by case law - protected under the Equality Act.

Off-topic but related.

The height of safety railings on balconies. Sometimes, they would be useless for protecting a tall person.

Going wider and off-topic, but not long ago there was a feature of a report by a woman where she drew to public attention that the rules (I don't know if it is law or what) for testing of seat belt designs were such that the required test of a seat belt designed for a pregnant woman was for it to be tested using a mannequin of an average size man.