Rant: the height of rudeness

Being a tall, Chinese girl (five feet, 10 inches au naturel, six foot two in heels) brings out a rather funny reaction in people. Well, mainly in men, who will accost you to force an inane conversation about your apparently freakish stature.

"You are really tall," men say to me in bars and other social settings. "Like really, really tall," they muse, blowing me away with their perspicacious skills of observation.

The chat, if I allow it to continue, usually ends up at, "Just how tall are you?" as if they've lost their ability to calculate height and size. Or if I'm seated, often comes a request for me to stand up like a show pony.

I have never figured out why it's socially appropriate for these people to point out an obvious physical trait. I'd love to feel entitled enough to go up to a stranger and say, "Wow, you have such an upturned nose/a prodigious belly/uneven eyebrows. How did you grow to be like that?"

Saying, "You are SO short. Have you always been short? Do you like being short?" sounds impertinent, but substitute the word "tall" and it's all kosher.

But if you really want to know … Yes, I've always been tall. Yes, I like being tall; I actually wish I were half an inch taller. And, no, I do not play basketball and I hated drinking milk when I was growing up.