What about 'I have average height'? Is that heard at all?

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cftranslate
Posts: 126
Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2003 7:51 pm

What about 'I have average height'? Is that heard at all?

Post by cftranslate » Sun Dec 12, 2004 8:03 pm

Thanks

Harzer
Posts: 149
Joined: Fri May 02, 2003 3:17 am
Location: Australia

Post by Harzer » Sun Dec 12, 2004 10:04 pm

"I have average height"

You would never hear this from a native speaker.

As I suggested earlier: "I am average height" is what people will say; or they might slip in the word 'of': "I am of average height".

Harzer

LarryLatham
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Joined: Thu Jan 16, 2003 6:33 pm
Location: Aguanga, California (near San Diego)

Post by LarryLatham » Mon Dec 13, 2004 12:49 am

Harzer is right, but he left a lot out. :shock: :)

It is only in certain very specific registers that you might find, "I am average height", or "I am of average height." Perhaps if you were talking on the telephone to a blind date (obviously someone you've never met) you might say something like that. Or if you were describing yourself to a potential employer (again, on the telephone). The key, here, is that it is such formal language, you would use it only if you wished to remain aloof, in some respect, from the listener. (Please note, dear reader, the elemental use of 'remoteness' here...it is a very useful concept). There might be several different scenarios which could cause you to feel this way, and so I've only described two of them here.

In regular, natural, conversation, where you had no particular reason to distance yourself from your listener(s), you probably would say: "I'm about average height", or "I'm five feet eleven", or sometimes, in the United States, at least, "I'm five foot eleven." (Note the contractions).

But as Harzer said, never, *"I have average height."

Larry Latham

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