Tall Irish?

[Robert Lamb]

Let me start by saying I am 6ft 5in tall, 240lbs.
Last night Elva and I were at a church function and I was wearing my black wool trad kilt.
As we were leaving on of women asked me if the kilt was Scottish, I responed it was Irish. Her reply was "aren't you to tall" so I asked are all Irish men short? She said "I always thought the Irish people were short (what ever short means) .
Is she correct and are all the Irish short or has she been watching to many leprecon movies?
Robert "the kilted" Lamb

[Kid Cossack]

I think my Mom's side actually has more Irish in it, and that the "Oakley" they walk around with now was something different when they got off the boat. They all run to the following: fair, short, and with curly red hair. My Mom was about 5' nothing, and her brothers and sister aren't much taller.

I'm comfortable being in that span between being too short to see over the steering wheel and too tall to fit through standard doors.

Yut!

[MacMullen]

Kevn McHale's is 6'10" and his father is Irish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_McHale

[Tattoo Bradley]

Kevn McHale's is 6'10" and his father is Irish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_McHale

Kevin McHale was THE MAN! But I suppose that's not the topic eh?

I think that lady's been watching too many leprachaun movies. :rolleyes:

[Red Lioness]

Well, I'm 5' 0", and all the women in my family are 5' 4" or under and I couldn't be more of an Irish American stereotype without changing my name to Shannon McPaddy.

[Big Dave]

My Mom's side of the family hails from Ireland and all of them are over 6'. My Mom's the shortest in the family at only 5'4".

[KiltedKnight]

Well, I'm 5' 0", and all the women in my family are 5' 4" or under and I couldn't be more of an Irish American stereotype without changing my name to Shannon McPaddy.

IMHO women should be somewhere in the 5'0" to 5'4" range. My wife is only 5'2" and that's just the perfect size for me even though she often complains about being 'too short' but I just ease her frustrations by telling her that she isn't too short, they just built the sidewalk too close to her sweet little bottom.

Chris.

[slohairt]

Dia Dhuit!

That's a leftover stereotype from the usual source, likely based on leprechauns or maybe even those horrible Victorian renderings of the Irish peasantry as short, chimpanzee-like figures. In fact, the Irish are the tallest Europeans (at the moment, anyway). Believe it or don't! I'm 6'2" and I was born in Co. Donegal. All of my family is tall as well.

P.S. Red hair falls under this category, too. While I myself have auburn hair, red hair is (contrary to popular belief) not that common in Ireland. What is a particularly common colouring is the combination of very dark hair with green or blue eyes. In fact, many scientists concerned with these matters consider it a Germanic trait!

[slohairt]

Dia Dhuit arís!

I just noticed my last sentence was misleading. I meant to say that red hair is thought of by scientists as a Germanic trait.

[Irish in Tacoma]

6 ft, 3.5 inches, 230 lbs and 3/4 Irish. My 3 brothers are all the same size. My sister is 5'-11" and the other is 5'-8"

My mother in law is only a little over 5 ft, Irish and Scottish. We do call her the leprechaun.