Comments on: George Washington’s Height Was Average, Americans Have Shrunk Dramatically Since 1776?

By: hkjhkj

hkjhkj — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:13:49 +0000

. sure very happy know? no. you people are not so tall yourself. we are growing taller. but no korean think like your just say. Maybe the dumb one. Hey glad to know your kind is coming down in height.

Can’t wait till you are off our land.

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By: Justin Leach » Canadian bakes cute cakes in Japan

Justin Leach » Canadian bakes cute cakes in Japan — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:28:48 +0000

[...] the end of the segment, they ask Chris to make a special cake version of Fuji TV news anchor Taro Kimura. The final product is quite [...]

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By: Canadian bakes cute cakes in Japan | Japan Probe

Canadian bakes cute cakes in Japan | Japan Probe — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:56:49 +0000

[...] the end of the segment, they ask Chris to make a special cake version of Fuji TV news anchor Taro Kimura. The final product is quite [...]

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By: CDL

CDL — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:44:34 +0000

indeed.. i am happy someone had their thinking cap on!
thank you for mentioning that fact Klauscore… we are the melting pot of the world.

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By: Molly

Molly — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 06:02:22 +0000

I read this and couldn’t help but laugh.

Ok, so some guy in Japan gets his facts slightly wrong and all of a sudden you feel you have to write AN ENTIRE ARTICLE defending the average height of Americans?

Calm down my frantic literary pal. It was a small error. It wasn’t intended to insult Americans. And it wasn’t meant to intentionally mislead the Japanese viewers.

A small error, ok? Also, as was mentioned a few times in the comments section, this isn’t the only station or even country to make such an error.

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By: Bryce

Bryce — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 01:11:06 +0000

Well European American,African American and Native Americans generally have the same height. The only adding factors have to be the influx of Hispanic peoples into the country.

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By: Twilight

Twilight — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:55:42 +0000

You are right, but they have an “Elixer” of some kind. They belive that the Elixer will slow down their ageing. In case your wondering what I am talking about, I am talking about Yogas. Scientist thinks that this is a ridiculous. They are researching this “Elixer” and they still can’t come up with a solution to the ageing problem. To me, I am surprise that we don’t even belive these people. I think that doing Yoga is a good way to reduce your ageing symptoms.

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By: Ry

Ry — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 07:30:17 +0000

The US is still the second tallest nation. I would say it still has the tallest people, but because of recent immigration from on average shorter people south of the boarder, this has brought the average down.

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By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 07:26:55 +0000

Just like ABCNNBCBS and Fox from the states. When in doubt just lie.

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By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 07:25:58 +0000

There are records from the early colonies showing that the first offspring born in the Americas were far taller than their parents. The reason was probably their diet. The American Indians in North America had a similar diet and they were considered so tall that Sir Walter Raleigh had 3 brought back to England to show off, one died their from disease. The other two Manteo and Wanchese returned back to what is now North Carolina.

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By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 07:21:39 +0000

I haven’t seen this from any of the Koreans I know.

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By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 07:19:37 +0000

Old people shrink. Japan has plenty of those.

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By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 07:18:34 +0000

bread and beer not bear lol

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By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 07:17:22 +0000

I was about to say the same thing. A lot of it is diet. American Indians were seen as extremely tall by the first English settlers. (data from coffin and shoe sizes as well as reports from the time) Within in a generation of Jamestown the average hieght was demonstratable taller than the average hieght of its Eurpean counter part (of the same race, nation and even families). They went through a number of silly theories even suggesting that America made your legs longer because of the land. The real reason was access to wild meat (deer, turkey, fish etc) where as most of Europe lived on bread a bear and only the land holders had regular access to meat. Why has have Japanese men shrank? People to meat ratio. Better lift that ban on US beef. Just ask your short friends what they ate when they were young.

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By: Global Voices amin’ ny teny malagasy » Blog Archive » Japana : Fihenan’ny salan’haavo

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:59:10 +0000

[...] mpiblaogy James monina any Japana dia mizara ny fomba fijeriny izay nitateran’ny fampahalalam-baovao ny fihenan’ny salan’haavon’ny mpianatra lah… izay nampitahaina tamin’ny toe-draharaha any Amerika [U.S.A.] : « a new government report [...]

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By: Global Voices Online » Japan: Drop in Average Height

Global Voices Online » Japan: Drop in Average Height — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:21:54 +0000

[...] from Japan Probe analyzes how the news about the decrease in average height of Japanese male was reported in Japan by comparing the situation with U.S. Share [...]

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By: Evan

Evan — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 06:38:06 +0000

My impression was Japanese (and most populations around the world) are getting taller, especially post war. better diet (ie enough) and some red meat. there has been lots of talk recently about how young japanese women are more shapely/volumptuous in the japanese media.

i think they took a small sample of ojisan and compared it with old data of young men then just made up the rest.

I would guess Koreans (under 40) would be taller on average than japanese of the same demographic. probably due to eating shit loads of battery raised pork and chicken pumped full growth hormone and god knows what.

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By: Johnu

Johnu — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 11:39:03 +0000

Uh…you know it helps when you post this after the one where you go (obviously with a different name), “I am Korean, haha Japanese are short”, not before. I don’t really get why there are people who lurk around trying to instigate these things, though.

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By: Grady

Grady — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 06:17:34 +0000

I hope the Koreans don’t get a hold of this news. It is just the type of news and topic that will have them reveling in orgasmic joy and delight because of the the following two reasons:

1) For some weird reason, Koreans go absolutely bonkers and obsess about height as an indication of racial superiority. Anyone who has spent considerable time in Korea will attest to the fact that they always seem to bring up how much taller Koreans are than other Asians as some measure of their superiority. I guess it means that Koreans think that Manute Bol and Shaquille O’Neil are the ubermen of the universe. Funny thing is that there is no statisical base for this assertion, and even if it were true, it would probably be attributed to the massive forms of plastic surgery that is rampant in Korea ranging from jaw grinding down to leg bone lengthening.

2) The article states that Japanese are getting shorter. Basically a double whammy to the Korean-ego…much like how a 5 year old child will just foam at the mouth with joy when his older, wiser sibling or mother will compliment him/her on being the “smartest boy/girl in the world.”

Anyways, if it strokes their ego and makes them so happy, all the better for them. However, honestly speaking, seeing an Asian nation laughing and boasting that they are taller than other Asian nationalites is like a 4 foot tall midget bragging about how it taller than a 3 foot 11 inch tall midget. However, I guess that’s really important for Koreans.

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By: madne0

madne0 — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 19:00:51 +0000

This discussion about heights is one i find (strangely) interesting. The average height has, over the centuries, fluctuated immensely. Around 2000 years ago, during the height of the roman empire, the average male roman was around 5 feet 5, 5 feet 6. Inexplicably, since the fall of the roman empire brought forth great famines, the average height during the middle ages grew considerably. During the crusades it was normal for a western male to be around 6 feet tall. Then the average height again declined, until we reached the 18th-19th centuries, when the average Dutch male was around 5 and a half feet tall. They were, in fact, “mocked” by their neighbors for their “shortness”. 100 years later, the dutch are (on average) the tallest people on earth.
Interesting, huh?

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By: William G

William G — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:36:23 +0000

Maybe the hundreds of extra pounds everyone is carrying around back home is just compressing folks?

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By: Pira

Pira — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:35:32 +0000

….and in all of this there is no mention that 40+ years ago, a majority of immigrants to the US were from European nations while now the majority comes from Asia and South & Central America.

It’s kind of hard to compare a single ethnic *cough* gene pool to one that is constantly being diluted with new blood or at the very least with newly minted citizens standing up to be counted for statistical purposes.

*rolls eyes*

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By: andoroido

andoroido — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:51:19 +0000

Statistics aren’t my strongest point, but these changes are meaningless, as they are clearly less than 1% different from the previous value, and less than a quarter of a percent for the women.

It would just as amazing if there were absolutely no change at all. But of course, any excuse to eventually illustrate the differences between Japanese (they are a super-special race, ya know) and foreigners, anda chance to just make stuff up about foreigners, too!

I love the “common knowledge” (shared by Japanese doctors) that Japanese intestines are longer (or was it shorter) than Westerners’, so they require different treatment for GI problems.

This BS moves from silly to just dangerous.

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By: Tadashi

Tadashi — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:49:57 +0000

Seems more like a serious case of nation wide flat feet
And girl probably grow taller because bow legs were much more common thirty years ago?

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By: The Overthinker

The Overthinker — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:39:48 +0000

“I guess the Japanese television programs just make stuff up when there’s no data to support their assertions.”

Good heavens! Say it’s natto so!

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By: Shari

Shari — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:37:42 +0000

The main problem is that the modern data about America is simply incorrect. The CDC (Center for Disease Control – a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) has found that people are getting slightly taller in the U.S. The average height for a male is five feet nine and a half inches. The average height for a female is five feet four inches. This is taller than the average height 40 years ago. People have gotten about a half inch taller on average.

I guess the Japanese television programs just make stuff up when there’s no data to support their assertions.

Any assertions about the average height of Americans prior to such records being kept (such as during George Washington’s time) are just fanciful speculation.

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By: Michimichi

Michimichi — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:34:33 +0000

I agree, and did you notice that under the column for highschool student height in 1977 they stated that the subjects are presently 47 years old? That suggests that instead of taking data collected in 1977 and comparing it to today’s data they measured the actual 47 year old former high school students, who might have shrunken since them (especially by only a few millimeters). They also did not mention their sample size, so there is no way to tell whether or not their results are statistically significant (which they probably aren’t, as such a small amount of variation would require a HUGE sample size for statistical significance). All in all, if it looks like crap, and it smells like crap…

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By: The Overthinker

The Overthinker — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:20:51 +0000

Woah, that’s some serious shrinkage – three whole millimetres. Frankly I doubt the measurements have that degree of accuracy to begin with.

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By: Klauscore

Klauscore — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:15:25 +0000

Hm. An explanation for the American case might be that immigrants from latino and asian countries lowered the (formerly northern European-dominated) average?

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