Success close to the ground

There is only one major flaw in newly released research showing that short men were irresistible to women till weapons were invented because of their innate fighting advantages. It fails to recognise that the short man still enjoys a sizeable advantage and that the tall should stop looking down on him, The Dominion Post writes in an editorial.

According to Utah University's David Carrier, being short made man's ancestors more skilled at fighting, with a lower centre of gravity and a better sense of balance. Being better at fighting guaranteed them huge sex appeal. The short-legged man, he argues, was the most successful for two million years, and was also the most aggressive, probably because he was confident of winning fights.

He says things began to go awry when tools were invented, and began to be used as weapons. That stripped the shorter man of his physical advantage, and instead it was the bloke with the long legs who was more successful, because he could run away.

That is to take a short-sighted view of history. An abbreviated - and highly selective - examination of both world history and modern society shows that the short man still stands, metaphorically at least, head and shoulders above his fellows.

The short continued to do well in that most brutish of human endeavours, waging war, despite the Carrier view that the invention of weapons robbed them of their advantage. Goliath, according to The Bible, was six cubits and a span tall - just a whisker under 3 metres - and carried an enormous spear. That didn't stop him going down to the much shorter David. Napoleon, of course, was famous for being short, full of testosterone and for knowing his way around a battlefield. And the man regarded by many as the greatest military commander in history, Genghis Khan, was a mere 1.54m high.

However, the prowess of the short man is not confined to the battlefield. The sex appeal is still there as well - just think Al Pacino, Humphrey Bogart, and even, for some, Tom Cruise.

And beyond the bedroom, they shine on the sports field - especially when skill, courage and tenacity are required, not just brawn. Think Don Bradman (1.73m), Sachin Tendulkar (1.53m), and Diego Maradona (1.65m).

The link between compactness and success is also evident in the shifts that can take place in national identity once the centimetres start getting added. The Dutch were once known for being among the shorter nations of Europe. They were also renowned as one of the great sea-faring nations, producing such illustrious explorers as Abel Tasman and Willem Janszoon, the first Europeans to set eyes on New Zealand and Australia respectively. Now that they are the tallest people in the world - the men average 1.83 metres - their renown rests on being the society where you can get a joint with your flat white in a cafe.

Songwriter Randy Newman once observed that "short people got no reason to live", that they had "little hands. And little eyes. And they walk around. Tellin' great big lies. They got little noses. And tiny little teeth. They wear platform shoes. On their nasty little feet."

Newman - who is at the loftier end of things himself- was being ironic, a fact that evidently went over the heads of some of his audience, who protested. One can only presume that the complainers were as tall as Mr Newman. Anyone nearer to the ground would never have been so short on humour.