So awkward. I'm just over 6'2" -- and at a recent family reunion had to deal with everyone saying I must be at _least_ 6'4". Because I was much taller than the other 6' guys there... and if I dispute it too vociferously, it's almost an attack on all the guys around me who are lying about their height. It seems there's a 2 or 3 inch bump across the board.

Ya, that happened to me once (Im almost 6’2’’). A guy who couldn't have been 5 10 was insisting he was 6 and that I was taller than stated. What was weird was that we were alone. He was only lying to himself.

And you know what, he was a bit weird looking. He had bad posture. But he was a good guy. A smart, hard working guy with a big heart.

This height thing is annoying. Id gladly trade inches of height in exchange for other inner character traits (courage, perseverance, conscientiousness). Intelligence I have to spare, but what good is it without character?

Sometime in the middle of last year I was seated outside a coffee shop and a guy comes up and he's like "how tall are you?" So I say I'm 6'2", which I am, approximately (age shrinking does not seem to have set in last I checked) - and he goes "oh cool I'm 6'8"." and then just turns around and leaves. Though I wasn't checking, I don't think his height was actually much different from my own. Apparently he needed to feel ultra tall or something.

When I consider all the cheaters in online video games who do it solely to "subtly" pad their stats, it's not really that astonishing that widespread height cheating would be a thing too.

one thing that people don't realize is that they shrink as they age past a certain point (common to lose an inch), and I believe that bad posture can increase this. When I was 18 I was 6'4 but I'm pretty sure I must be around 6'2 - 6'3 by now. So maybe he got measured one time, without taking shoes off, and stood up really straight and he got told 6 when he was 5'11.6, and it's been like that in his head ever since.

While this does happen, and someday it will happen to me if I survive long enough, I gained close to two centimeters in height within six months of starting a regular weightlifting program which is heavy on squats. Apparently there are enough small support muscles along the spine that bulking all of them up buffed my height stat.

This is distinct from the practice teaching me a more upright posture, which it also did, this isn't subjective height, it's the kind you can measure at some gyms on the weight station in bare feet.

Edit: occurs to me this raises... certain questions! Nothing more biochemically interesting than creatine.

Interesting, but we were both 19 in college.

Ok, so not necessarily the case there but maybe in some cases where those darn insecure men are lying about their height.

Even if someone asks me my height I probably just say 6'4' and leave it at that.

to clarify, because that is what I was last measured at, don't know if I shrank, and anyway don't want conversations, oh people shrink with age about 1 inch so I am probably 6'3 seems too much for someone who asks what height you are which is just filler conversation.

> … almost 6’2”

So…you are 6’1”?

LOL. Touche.

Im a quarter inch shy of 6’2’’. So, indeed, 6’1’’.

My old man is 6’4’’ and when I was young he’d rib on me that I never got past 190 (we’re metric background). Now I don’t care much about height. At 70, he’s shrunk to my eye level and of all his traits height is the one Id rather not have inherited and gotten his monastic character instead.

Just figured I’d bust you out given the topic. :-)

Which is preferred: truncating or rounding?

Truncating. OP is right

I've had almost this exact thing happen to me a couple times. 5'11,'' so it is impossible for me to state my height without calling out 6' guys who are shorter than me.

> there's a 2 or 3 inch bump across the board

You’ve discovered a new unit of measurement - the “dating inch”. Applicable not just to height.

It's like the opposite of the women's clothes sizing phenomenon.

Yeah the bump breaks down around 6’3”.

That's what you get for using inexact imperial units.

It's definitely gotten silly. I'm 6'3" and I have repeatedly had men tell me they were the same height. While in front of me. Looking up at me. I can't do anything but wear a bemused smile and change subjects.

> women insisting on 6 feet

...should stick to dating insects, surely.

I've had shorter guys get very upset with me when I accurately say that I'm 5'10“. It's really strange, the lies that people tell themselves.

That doesn't make sense, surely these women know their own height and can estimate from there. 2" is about 5cm, that's a substantial error when it amounts to "how much taller are they than me" and that gap on average is <15cm in USA.

I used to be 6'1" but have reached the age where you shrink. I am now also a tad over 6' and always answer the height question as 6'. My experience is similar to yours. Some women insist I must be 6'2". A couple of times I have just said that maybe I'm closer to 6'1" because it was close to becoming a full blown argument. Needless to say there were not 2nd dates with those women.

Being at the age where you shrink is also the age where many of the women you meet were formerly married. It is amazing how many of them have said that their former spouses were shorter to just taller than them and it bothered them the entire marriage. They say they will never make that compromise again.

> They say they will never make that compromise again

Not surprising to see this sentiment from a group whose marriages all failed. I expect the biggest prediction of long term marriage success is the willingness to compromise on much bigger things than this.

I'm 6'2" (happily married). Yes, I've been confused at other 6'1" and 6'2" guys out there - there IS definitely a fair bit of fibbing going on I think.

That said it doesn't come up that often in my circle.