Ever seen an adult man who is shorter than his mother?

noubliezjamais · 10-04-2019 11:33pm #1

Heard this is pretty much impossible (or highly uncommon) and in the cases it happens, it's either 1.) the adult son having a growth deficiency from brain trauma (so not genetic) or 2.) the mother is significantly taller than her husband.

It seems the mothers height even determines the height of daughters. It's much more possible for daughters to be shorter than mothers but even then, tall mothers produce daughters that are usually as tall as them.

beejee · 10-04-2019 11:40pm

I met a woman once who was short of a few pence. Her son had even less money.

So he was shorter than her, I suppose

Roger Hassenforder · 10-04-2019 11:54pm

I saw a man once who was further away from me, than his mother was.

Depends what way you look at it i suppose

The Satanist · 10-04-2019 11:57pm

This is an ableist thread, what about the visually impaired?!?

Victor · 11-04-2019 2:02am

There are a few factors at play:
* Men tend to be taller than women.
* Exceptionally tall parents tend to have tall off-spring, but not as tall - regression to the mean.
* Each generation tends to be taller than the previous one - better food security. In a famine situation, pregnancies that happen during or immediately after the famine tend to result in smaller children and even smaller grandchildren. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_famine_of_1944%E2%80%9345#Legacy

Pherekydes · 11-04-2019 8:02am

There was a family where I lived as a child and the mother was the tallest in the family. They had 3 sons and a daughter, and the daughter was probably the 2nd tallest, though there was almost nothing in it.

The father was by far the shortest.