Reassurance B Us
A young lady was frantic at what she discovered with a tape measure, and took her troubles to Yahoo! Answers: “My legs are 100cm long, is that normal?”
That’s a whole meter, which is fairly lengthy, but far from freak-of-nature status. I pointed out to her that German supermodel Nadja Auermann reportedly checks in at 112 cm, some sort of record on the catwalk, though probably not for the population as a whole.
And then it occurred to me that this thread was worthless without pictures, so:
Notice how much eye makeup it takes to offset that formidable expanse of leggage.
Disclosure: I have no idea how any of these measurements were obtained, or from what points.
McGehee »
14 August 2009 · 3:10 pm
Goodness, what people worry about. “Am I normal!?” they ask, deathly afraid the answer might be no.
When the question occurs to me, I look around and suffer panic at the thought the answer might be “yes.”
Lisa Paul »
14 August 2009 · 5:37 pm
You measure the inseam. From the point where leg meets body to the ankle. And I’m betting Nicole Kidman could take Nadja in an inseam fight. Or the late great Julia Child. That gal was 6 feet 2.
Dick Stanley »
14 August 2009 · 6:40 pm
She must like the long legs. Else why wear long pointed shoes to make them look even longer?
CGHill »
14 August 2009 · 6:45 pm
I’ve known women who were six-two (none of whom were Megan McArdle), and they didn’t seem quite this leggy.
As for the pointed shoes, it’s part of the gig. (This was pulled from a five-page, or longer, pictorial in a fashion mag.)
fillyjonk »
15 August 2009 · 7:02 am
I wonder if women are more haunted by the question “am I (appearance-wise) normal?” than men are? Or if we are more scared of being deemed “abnormal”?
I do know that the standards of “normal” according to your average fashion magazine are narrow indeed.
McGehee »
15 August 2009 · 8:30 am
And with a decreasing overlap with the real-world version thereof.
CGHill »
15 August 2009 · 9:45 am
Often as not, if a man is worrying about the appearance he presents, it’s due to something external to his person: either “Am I driving a chick car?” or “Is my girlfriend as hot as everyone else’s?”
fillyjonk »
15 August 2009 · 1:20 pm
“Is my girlfriend as hot…” bringing back the “abnormal/normal concern to the female again.
Other than Neons (and I guess those are no longer made) and maybe the New Beetle, what else is a “chick car”? I always thought of the Neon as “what 16 year old girls got their dads to buy them when they got their driver’s licenses” but other than that, I guess I really don’t notice a gender breakdown in cars. (Except for guys driving large bright yellow pickup trucks; I figure there’s some kind of compensatory behavior going on there. Especially if they are jerks behind the wheel.)
fillyjonk »
15 August 2009 · 1:23 pm
I actually think the only measurement people probably need to be concerned with is to be sure that their nose isn’t 12″ long.
Because it would then be a foot.
Humor, ar ar.
CGHill »
15 August 2009 · 1:33 pm
I wish I were making it up, that “chick car” crap, but no: a search for “chick car” at Yahoo! Answers, for instance, turns up over 2000 questions, a lot of which read like this: “Is the Toyota Prius more of a ‘chick’ car and make a dude seem kinda gay when he isn’t?” God forbid that someone should reach a conclusion about a person’s sexuality based on what’s in his driveway. (Women never ask if cars are too guy-ish: they just drive.)
Lisa Paul »
15 August 2009 · 1:38 pm
Fillyjonk, what are you saying about bright yellow pick up trucks? I drive one (49 Ford). I call it Tweety Bird. You can see me coming on a country road a mile away. Now would that qualify as a “chick car”?
McGehee »
15 August 2009 · 2:13 pm
The only pickup truck my mother ever owned was a yellow Nissan — though it wasn’t “bright” yellow, more of a buttery yellow. She named it “Buttercup.”
sya »
15 August 2009 · 2:27 pm
My first instinct is to say that a yellow truck is more of a chick vehicle than a guy vehicle–as I’ve never seen a guy drive one. Guys have to drive the huge black trucks with extra large wheels. And they have to be wearing cowboy hats and blaring rap so loudly that you feel your entire surroundings vibrate.
Anyways, on topic: Maybe it’s a function of age and caring less about a whole lot of things, cause nowadays if someone called me an abnormal freak of nature, I’d be more amused than depressed.
CGHill »
15 August 2009 · 3:20 pm
A friend of mine (female, 50ish) has owned several small (as distinguished from “full-sized”) pickup trucks over the years; queried as to whether these vehicles were sufficiently girly, she responded, “Well, I could always stick a huge bow on the roof.” So far, she hasn’t.
canadienne »
15 August 2009 · 9:37 pm
I’m 158cm tall and if Ms. Auermann’s legs are 112 cm long, her legs would start somewhere around the middle of my torso;
I give up. I am a garden gnome.
CGHill »
15 August 2009 · 10:04 pm
I used to date someone who stood all of 145 cm. If I didn’t snicker at her, there’s no reason I should sneer at you. :)
Bill Quick »
16 August 2009 · 11:14 am
Note that it takes a pic of immense leggage to generate 16 comments. And Chaz, what about background music? How about this?
CGHill »
16 August 2009 · 11:16 am
I figured the picture offered prima facie evidence that Auermann, at least, knows how to use them.