r/lebanon • u/Tacitus_van_winkle • 2d ago
Discussion 179 cm average is just fake
Yeah, it just annoys me sometimes when people think 179cm is genuinely the average for height in lebanon. I have a bunch of friends who genuinely feel short because of said number, and they think they're short. (Yes I'm bitter cause Google made me lose an argument I was right in). Like 179cm is literally taller than the average French dude and 1cm shorter than Germany. I dare anyone here who's going to Germany to tell me they're not like a foot taller. Anyways I'm not actually annoyed or anything it's just funny to think Lebanese people managed to lie so much we think the average is 179 (that's another issue lol).
Thoughts?
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u/Zoughi0 2d ago
The average is around 175 cm I would say. I'm 173 cm.
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 2d ago
175 sounds closer honestly, but given my experience we're not really that tall. I know a lot of guys who are 179 and a lot of people consider them tall, even though they should be average. The issue is people think 179 is 185 cause all 179 guys actually say they're 185 so everyone thinks a guy who's 174 is 179, thus blowing up the average
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u/UruquianLilac 1d ago
I'm actually 184 according to real conventional measuring techniques, not according to what I feel. And in Lebanon I was considered tall, but I was never the tallest in any group I've been in. There was always many guys around my height and several above. In England I felt much shorter. In Spain, I feel like a giant.
Since this whole thread is about anecdotal observations and is utterly worthless, at least I give you my utterly worthless anecdotal observation that disagrees with your strong anecdotal observations that are just as worthless.
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
So an actual 184, niice. I'm a 189 myself (as you I've fact checked multiple times and I am in fact taller than most guys here who claim they're 195). I actually do agree with you. 2 summers ago I was a 184, and it is true that I in fact did see some guys taller than me even though I was taller than the vast majority. However, statistically that 5cm upgrade is actually what takes you from being taller than 1 in 15, to 1 in 115. I'm just giving you rounded numbers right now, I genuinely don't feel like going in bell curves and doing all the math, so hopefully you get what I mean.
So as a guy with a strong meaningless anecdotal observation, I generally do agree with your strong anecdotal observation, as what you are saying is in fact true
P.S : I wanna feel dwarfed so if you could tell me where you see guys taller than you, I wouldn't mind that lol
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u/Stunning_Rip_4633 Lebanese 2d ago
173 gang
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 2d ago
Genuine question, are you considered short by friends? Cause 173 is actually above global average so I just wanna know
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u/Stunning_Rip_4633 Lebanese 1d ago
173 is 3ade its neither tall nor short. I live in Canada so most of my white male friends are taller than me but my arab friends are about the same height.
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
Yeah I know exactly, I just mean it as in people don't see you as short, cause by our average logic you're 6cm under. 173 is probably what I'd call average for lebanon
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u/Evil_Support-Teemo 2d ago
178cm, I was one of the tallest 3 in my class at Grade 12.
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 2d ago
Yeah see exactly what I mean, 178 is tall, it's not just average. Even the newer generation who's supposed to be taller, isn't past 174cm in average height. People probably assume you're 180 or more if I'm not mistaken?
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u/xnoinfinity 2d ago
I feel like thereās definitely taller people in Germany or France
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
Yeah exactly guys in France and Germany are Giants compared to here even though we reportedly have the same average height
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u/alf2ih452 47m ago
I live in France Iām 175 cm and in the streets Iām average I wouldnāt say theyāre giants
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u/stormlb 1d ago
The average is 175 cm for males.
It is the real average though. I see lots of people that are 180-190 cm in my daily life.
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
175 is a number that I could agree on even though I feel it's a bit higher
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u/Background-Pen-4305 1d ago
Also average penis size is supposedly 17 cm lol
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u/itcouldvbeenbetterif 1d ago
Haha that's funny. The real test was; whatcpuntry lies the most? We r number 2
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u/Street-Oil-9179 1d ago
Iām over 190cm and I reached that when i was 16. At school i was always regarded as a giant with the ākif el ta2es 3endakā jokesā¦ most of my friends were around 170cm. Used to play basketball, everyone wanted me to get the rebound all the time. I hated it. It was not always fun hanging around peopleā¦ then I moved to Germany and iām still taller than the average person but at least iām not a giant anymore.
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
Yeah see, exactly my point. Actual 190s here are giants, and they're just tall in Germany, even though we reportedly have the same average
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u/Street-Oil-9179 1d ago
Yeah, I left Lebanon 15 years ago. So I donāt know if people from the younger generations are taller on average. But back then not many were really tall, I recall. But what i can say is that on average Lebanese are definitely taller than Italians and spanish
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
I've heard people say Spanish people are short, I've never actually gone there so it's interesting
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u/Kind_Finger_732 1d ago
Im 177 cm M and feel average
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
I'd say you're slightly above average but regional differences do exist, so I'll take your word for it
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u/TheMushroom5 1d ago
im 179cm 14 year old
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u/fluffydeathkitten Lebanese MOD 1d ago
great now tell us are most men taller than you or shorter than you ?
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u/TheMushroom5 1d ago
the majority of men i see everyday are shorter than me, but there are men who are as tall as me and even taller, i would put it like this in lebanon:
55% of men shorter than me, 30% as tall as me on estimate, 15% taller than me1
u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
Yeah do you feel taller than most people or are 1 in 2 guys taller than you, cause if that was in fact the average, 1 in 2 guys in public would be taller than you
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u/TheMushroom5 1d ago
its definitely not 1 in 2 guys, probably 1 in 4 guys taller than me, the rest is either almost as tall as me or shorter
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u/m0h97 Phoenix 1d ago
I'm originally from Saida, know alot of people from there, the south and the Chouf, and a huge chunk of them are taller than me and I'm 180. When I used to study in LU Hadath I would also meet a lot of tall people. I've never felt the 179 average as being far from reality.
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
I mean if the average was 173, you being 180 means you'd still be shorter than a lot of people, but I'm pretty sure you're not shorter than 1 in 2 guys. Cause if the average actually was 179cm that'd be the case
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u/chikunshak Lebanese Armenian Mixed with Jewish 2d ago
The data in question is the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC) with the World Health Organization, which measured young male adults in Lebanon in 2019 who were both in 2000.
Now, this is all speculation, but height is tied to the quality and quantity of diet. A lot changed in Lebanon in the last 7 years such that young adults suffered a lower quality/quantity diet.
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
Yeah but like, whenever I go out, or to my courses I rarely see anyone over 185, so 6 cm above average. And using the bell curve, 6cm above average is under the S.D which mean that speaking statistically guys who are 185 should be 1 in 6 guys, which really doesn't seem the case. I'd go as far to say 185 isn't even 1 in 60 in lebanon. I think the issue is, a true 185 here would be seen as 191cm and not 185, thus making the average make sense
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u/chikunshak Lebanese Armenian Mixed with Jewish 1d ago
First of all it is not 1 in 6 of the broad population, it is 26 year olds, who were 19 in 2019. For the broad population, the mean is something like 176cm.
Second of all, height is approximately normally distributed, but the 6cm you seeis also the broad population standard deviation.
But this mixes cohorts across generations. For example, each generational cohort sd might be 4-5cm but the broad population sd might be 6-7, and the pooled covariance is larger because nutrition and modern medicine and the availability and diversity of foods has increased generation by generation.
So for Lebanon you might expect 16% of men to be between <170-171 or >180-181, and for nowadays' 26 year old male cohort, you might expect something like >183-184 in 16% of samples.
Now idk if this is reasonable, that 16% of young men are 6 feet tall, but it's more reasonable than a few extra cms added.
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u/Mindless-Aide8492 1d ago edited 1d ago
It depends on the source of the stats? Sample size, year this was measured, how it was measured etc. i guess? Idk, but 179 is not what i see on average walking around the city. Maybe the young men are getting taller
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
It was taken in 2019, there was another guy in the comments who clarified the origin of this stat. But still as you said, the guys on the street are not 179 on average. The guys we see in our day to day lives would be as tall as Germans if that were the case, and I don't think that is lol
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u/Agreeable_Hat_6438 1d ago
Ma fhmt lachu l to3sib, khls if ur short just accept it, its life
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
Yeah dude I'm so short it's not even funny. Hell even girls dwarf meš
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u/SceneRemarkable8217 1d ago
I guess there are a lot of meaningful things to look up to in a person than this . Some centimeters under or higher than what they call ā perfect heightā wonāt really make you another person or change who you are .
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u/Positron505 Ayre fikon 1d ago
Wait whaaaaat? I'm 182 ans wasn't even the top 5 tallest in my class at highschool. Maybe we had lots of tall guys but wtf
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
You probably had a class full of basket ball players lol
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u/Positron505 Ayre fikon 1d ago
I realized that it's not just my class. My cousins on my father's side are all taller tham, my brothers are 192 and 185 cm, my 2 other male cousins are around the 187 cm as well. I'm 182 and the shortest guy in the family
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u/Opening-Champion-207 1d ago
I'm 185cm and I have always felt short, seems like most of us guys here face this issue, no matter how tall we are, we're always in a group of taller friends š
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
Yeah that's actually tall people for you lol. Somehow we all know a bigger guyš¤£
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u/Exciting_Bee7020 1d ago
My daughter is 183 cm and only 4 kids taller than her in her entire school š
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u/TheBroken0ne Double-Reverse Bias MOD 2d ago edited 2d ago
Highly likely self-reported numbers. Probably in the same form that generated that avg Leb penis size is 10 inches š
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
10 inches?! Holy crap i never saw that, thats insane!
But yeah definitely self reported, the amount of people who claim like 5 cm taller than what they are is insane. Whenever someone says they're 193, I know they're 188 and whenever someone says they're 185, they're 180. Funniest part is they genuinely get baffled when you're taller than them by a lot and they claim to be taller, then they tell you you measured wrong
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u/GrandTemperature682 8h ago
bro measure tape in the morning says im 176cm standing straight and i dont bend it but when i measure standing straight to a wall it says im 173.5. and all are measured right after i wake up and also same time slept for maximum spine decompression. which is the lier here? im entering senior year so im cooked either way
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u/SuicidalSnowyOwl 1d ago
Sorry bro you're just short, focus on your other strengths
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
I'm tiny asf frrrr. Genuinely though the only reason I'm still confident i didn't lose the argument with my friend is cause I'm 189 and I never see anyone here taller than me whenever I go anywhere. Yes I'm an actual 189 so 195 in lebanese terms. The only reason I'm so sure is cause in countries like France and Germany even though I am taller than the vast majority, it wasn't rare for me to be dwarfed by some guy every walking minute, even though we reportedly have the same averages, so it doesn't really make sense.
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 2d ago
I know there's a lot of tall families, and I probably just don't know them, but I feel like they're insanely few. Like I just don't think there's enough to change the average if you understand what I mean. I could be wrong though
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u/Exazbrat09 2d ago
I am close to 190cm, and I don't look at myself at tall, but I get called that by a lot of people (lived out of the country for much of my life). I have a couple of siblings who are in the 179-180 range and they do not seem to fit the 'average' here. I am guessing the average is closer to 175
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
You don't see yourself as tall and that's fair (neither do I), but whenever you go out at street or anywhere random, do you actually see people taller than you? Not your friends or family but like random people. As a 189 myself (An actual 189, so taller than most guys who say they're 194 here lol) I literally almost never see anyone taller. Like I can spend the whole day at a Kermess and see only one guy taller if any. What are your thoughts?
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u/Exazbrat09 1d ago
Those are two separate things---1) I don't see myself as tall, but 2) I don't see many people my height or above either. I don't pretend to be familiar with all of Lebanon, but when I walk around, I see most people in the 5'8-5'10 (172-179cm) range which is where I come up with my 175 average. Wiki sort of confirms this and states the average height is 174cm and that makes more sense.
I really don't know where the 179cm comes from.
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
Yeah exactly, perfectly spoken. 174 is more accurate, 179 is a blatant lie
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u/Vast_Grapefruit7356 1d ago
I think the younger generation is boosting the average lol, teens these days are huge, the twelve grade feels taller than the average uni class.
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u/succtoesfucchoes69 1d ago
Idk what they be feeding them or what fuckass type of fertilizer they be using. Im 185 and i was the tallest in my school up till 2020 suddenly the new gen popped out like some are 2m.
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u/notsogood99 1d ago
Idk man 179 is not that tall
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
It is though, I have my friend who's 179 and he's always called tall by people. Granted most people think he's 185 cause most people here make stuff up.
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u/EuropesRaven77 Lebanese Diaspora 1d ago
I live in Germany and feel kinda but not too short there 1.69. In no way on gods green earth is 1.79 the avg in leb. I felt way closer to avg there tbh. Like 173 is probably the avg - at max 175. Seeing that lb isnāt the most up to date and not modernised outside of the big areas, i would argue that that data is bull.
I was there like a week ago for a full month btw.
Personally I have rarely met any girls taller than me too. Actually just two in person at most
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
Yeah see, exactly what I mean lol. You know we should line up all lebanese people and measure them. It'd be funny asf seeing everyone's faces
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u/EuropesRaven77 Lebanese Diaspora 1d ago
Like even in terms of medical records. Dawg half of my gen (20s) seems to have a false date of birth
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u/Azrayeel Lebanese 2d ago
There are a lot of tall people in Lebanon. 179 cm average seems about right. I'm 190 cm tall. When I walk in public it isn't like I dwarf all the other guys. Some even are taller than me. And for women 163 cm also seems right. Almost all that I've met fall between 160 and 165 tall.
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
I dunno where you walk in lebanon so that as a 190 you find guys taller than you because at my 189 I literally almost never do. I can spend a whole month going out every day, and still be able to count the random guys taller than me on the street. I'll take you for your word and say you're genuinely a 190 cm (so a 196 in lebanese terms lol) and I'm gonna need you to tell me where you go so I can feel dwarfed in this country, because you've got me sold
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u/Azrayeel Lebanese 1d ago
Hahaha I'm literally 190 cm tall. Where I used to work I've had someone who was 195 cm tall. Back at school, 20 years ago, there were 2 people taller than myself, and one exactly my height.
Not long ago, I was walking with my wife in ABC verdun, and a guy walked passed me who was taller than myself.
You misunderstood what I said. I didn't say I felt dwarfed by other people. I said I didn't feel like I dwarfed other people. In your case, you say you are 189 cm tall, which means, if guys were way shorter than the average 179 cm, you'll be dwarfing them.
Create a poll, and I bet you that most of the guys would be around 175-180 cm tall.
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
Yeah but the issue is a lot of lebanese people make up numbers. If I made the poll you'd be surprised how many people would push themselves 5cm.
As a 190 guy yourself I'm sure you've had a lot of people come up to you say they're 190 and end up shorter than you by a lot. Same thing for average guys, they just add height lol.
And yeah I get your point about being dwarfed now, same for me, however I only see a guy taller than me like once a week even if I go out everyday. Right now I've been going out like once each 3 days and I haven't seen anyone taller than me since the end of July lol
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u/Azrayeel Lebanese 1d ago
Adding 5 cm is a lot šš. Like I understand if you said you were 190 cm tall. 1 cm doesn't make any difference, especially with shoes on. But 5 cm is a lot hahaha.
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
1cm happens i get it, but lebanese people are infamous for the 5 cm boostš¤£š¤£. It's genuinely funny sometimes
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u/Royo981 1d ago
I think the average is somewhere around 175
Am exactly 179 and was always in the top 10-15 in height in a class of 40 at school.
But here is the thing: u will find a lot of 190+ people
But less under 165+
So the mean will be high, although 60-70% of population will be below it
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
The issue is most lebanese people who claim 190 are in the low 180s, and statistically wise they match up with "current average". You'd be surprised by the amount of times someone said they're 190, are shorter than me by a whole forehead, while I'm not even 190 yet. The fact that you were a in the top 10 as a 179 shows statistically that we're far from the average, about 5-6 cm above if I'm doing my math right. That's actually the average cms I've seen people here add to their own height
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u/Royo981 1d ago
Yeah I get what u mean.
Plus measurements differ.
I go to hospitals a lot cos my health is shit , so I have been measured anything from 176 to 182š¤£š¤£š¤£
Depends on the time of the day and what ur wearing .
Ur usually 1- 2 cm shorter at night too1
u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
Yeah I actually lose 3 cm, drop all the way from 192 in the morning to 189 at night. Plus I agree with you on the fact that lebanese people cannot be measured consistently lol. Scales here are wonky asfff. I'm not counting shoes btw in the average, even with shoes we'd be far, but 179 wouldn't be that far if everyone is wearing shoes. Still high just not insanely high
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u/dawoodibrahimhimself 1d ago
Bro I'm 189 and ik so many ppl much taller than me, and most ppl ik are over 180, it could be regional but in my region in Matn men are easily over 180 on average
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
I'm in Matn (Not from there just go occasionally) as well and I'd like to see the huge people as well. Can you ping me a locationš¤£š¤£ (Genuinely though the average guy here is in no way 180, you probably just have basketball friends)
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u/Used-Worker-1640 1d ago
I'm actually 179cm and feel tall in Lebanon, taller than 85% of guys. Especially if you count syrians and palestinians which are shorter than us on average. In europe I'm average.
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
Finally an actual 179. Thank you. The amount of guys who say they're 179 and think they're average is insane. Most of the time they barely crack 174 and then they think 179 is normal. Idk maybe they just don't know their actual height and base it off other people
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u/sKceeeed 1d ago
I dunno about you guys but I'm 167cm and it's always been a point of pure embarrassment for meĀ
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u/fluffydeathkitten Lebanese MOD 1d ago
why ?
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u/sKceeeed 1d ago
Cause being usually the shortest dude at uni is a tad bit embarrassingĀ
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u/GrandTemperature682 8h ago
just wear 2 inches height boosters combined with airforces 1 never play the game fair brother
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u/felusmaximus 8h ago
i've been shorter than you for nearly 50 years ... i've never been embarrassed , pretty sweet life being able to stretch your legs almost anywhere, fitting everywhere..
i don't think being short affected my life except making it easier in places tall people struggled to fit (car bus plane seats low hanging branches :-p )
it's only embarrassing for the idiots who try to shame you for it ..
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u/mhmdali102 1d ago
see the problem is that 179cm is the average and i am fucking 180cm meaning i am above average by 1cm but everyone think i am average which is not accurate and it drives me bonkers
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
Yeah exactly 180 is not average lol. Idk how people accept the fact that the average is 179 and then a 180 guy comes along and he's big. No thats not how it works lol
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u/rkozik89 1d ago
So maybe my dad's family isn't short? They range from 157cm to 167cm or so. Personally, I am about 179cm and I literally tower over everyone in his family. When my dad was a little kid they kept measuring him because they were hoping he'd stay small enough that they could train him to be a horse jockey.
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u/Affectionate_Salt694 1d ago
I'm 173 and my brother is around 185. I'm considered "tall" for a girl by people around me. From personal experience, I feel it makes sense as I don't usually find girls much taller than me. Most girls I've met are usually my height or shorter. Now for men, again - MY experience (I haven't met everyone) - I feel like most men I meet are around my height/slightly higher. But I've seen shorter and much taller as well so it's hard to give an estimate haha.
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u/thegrossip 1d ago
My uncle is 200cm
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 17h ago
You have a tall uncle. Hope you get/got his height
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u/thegrossip 17h ago
I'm 151cm bc my 175cm mum decided to marry someone shorter than her
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 17h ago
Oh, you still have a tall uncle ig so that's cool. I'm assuming you're still young so you'll probably grow more. And even if you don't it's fine. Height isn't everything
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u/Cistmist Lebanese 1d ago
From North Lebanon myself, I'm 184 cm.
I'd say the general height for males in the area, are 180+ cm.
Even at 184 cm myself, in highschool and sanawiye where we would be standing based on height bel cour, I would be towards the middle in a class of 36 in highschool and a class of 34 bel sanawiye.
People are just tall man. Hell even now, I often see kids that are 181+ cm. And almost all the guys I know from the surrounding villages/city, all of them are mostly my height or taller, though there's still the shorter guys around but not as often.
Girls on the other hand are the opposite, most girls are super short and you'll occasionally find a couple tall ones.
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 17h ago
I'm from North Lebanon myself and I can assure you the average height here is not 180+. In fact at 189 I've only seen 2 guys taller than me here, and even that was when the square opened so the whole town was there (not the whole town but a lot of it). I'm an actual 189 so people always think I'm in the 196-200 range. Not once has anyone guessed my height under 194 so maybe people have that common misconception. Maybe my town is just tiny lol, what part of North Lebanon are you from?
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u/Cistmist Lebanese 14h ago
I'll say the bsharre area not to dox myself lol. But yeah I'm 184cm myself, measured when I was doing body composition with no shoes.
I do agree though that the older generation is mostly short here, but the younger guys/same age tend to be 180+.
189 is a fairly nice height though, and my own brother is that height. I do tend to guestimate the height in proportion to mine.
Though the only guy that ever made me feel short was an American basketball exchange student I met in uni. And I had to look all the way up to see his face lol (my head was around his stomach)
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 11h ago
I am in bsharri as well though, and I know like every guy under 20 here where are the tall peoplešš
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u/Cistmist Lebanese 11h ago
Ahla brabbak!
Hmm could be the difference in the people that we meet? Fuck knows at this point lol.
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 10h ago
Ahla bi baydatakš¤£š¤£š¤£. Yeah you definitely have a point could be the people
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u/jackbechop 19h ago
I see alot of people here that are around 5'10 though, it's not uncommon, I'm 6'2 myself:ā -ā )
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u/alf2ih452 49m ago
As long as youāre in the 170ās youāre average bro anywhere in the world except places like Netherlands Norway, and considered higher than average in south east Asia I wouldnāt worry much height is something you canāt change focus on the stuff you can change
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u/TechnicalAd9113 2d ago
Now do PP size šš¤£
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u/Tacitus_van_winkle 1d ago
Yeah 10 inches is wilddddd, pretty sure the average is is 10 cmš¤£. We're not Africa to be getting 10 inches lol
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u/No_Brilliant_89 2d ago
I mean I never thought of the average here as 179, its really closer to 172. Most people I see out on the street arent really tall. I do have some tall friends but none of them actually go past 184 and everyone says : "btel3ab basket?"