D. got called “Big Man” again yesterday, by the checker at the grocery store. He says it’s about to give him a complex. Yes, he’s 6’3″ tall. Yes, the Glaswegians are short (with the average Scots-girl being 5’4″ tall, and the average Glaswegian being shorter than that). But … well, being called “Big Man” … is kinda confusing for him, seeing as how nobody really knows what it means. Are they saying he’s overweight? Tall? Important?
– D & T
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Hopefully the reference is to height and "presence". Given the height of the British people I know 6'3" is definitely a giant. 🙂
D.gets to choose the meaning that pleases him:)
Bean
Hahaha, that's funny. It's in reference to your height and I *think* it's meant to be a friendly term. Kinda like when people call me, "hen". At first I was confused as to why I was being called a bird of sorts but apparently it'd s term of endearment.
As I know D, I'd vote for "important!"
Definitely a reference to his height and it's quite respectful – "I acknowledge you're taller than me and I won't mess with you"!
Where did you get the stats, though? I remember hearing the 5'4" thing about 20 years ago and I reckon girls have got much taller since then.
Actually, it isn't really a reference to his height. It's more of a respect thing.
LOL! They're saying, "Tall and important." Seriously. 😉
Paz
It's probably a reference to his enlarged brain.
It's a term of respect and little to do with height. As for Glaswegians being short….you really do live in a different Glasgow from me.
Thank you all for commenting. It's good to know what it's about, because I couldn't find a single thing on it, online, so … was just confused.
To Anonymous: you find Glaswegians tall? I'm surprised. I mean, I'm not trying to be offensive, but … well, for the first year or so, I felt like I was towering over everybody. Maybe it's just that Californians are, on average, taller?
Not particularly tall, D but anyone at 6'3" is going to tower over the majority of folks. I'm 5' 8" and the majority of my female friends are within the 5'6" – 5'8" range.Majority of male friends are nearer the 6 foot mark. I must say I do find a lot of what you say about your experiences here in Scotland to be at complete odds of my own experiences of Scotland and I've lived here for 35 yrs.
Anonymous: I think that most of our experiences of Glasgow will be at odds with your experience: we're not natives, and Glasgow really couldn't be farther from San Francisco in so many things.
There are the inherent cultural differences between Northern Californians and the rest of the residents of US. When you add in the linguistic differences between the US and the UK, our educational backgrounds, and choices in career, we're bound to look at the world in a somewhat different manner than most.
I'd be interested to know what's different between our experiences, but am not overly concerned that we have differences: we are, after all, from vastly different backgrounds. When it's all said and done, there will be very little commonality of experience.
Do note that we're not maintaining that our view is the view: just that this has been our experience of things, based on our backgrounds, our worldview, etc.
I'd also be interested to know why people persist in remaining Anonymous, but that's another issue, I suppose.