Thursday, January 03, 2008

Tallest people on Earth

“To a small man every greater is an exaggeration.”
~Henry David Thoreau

“Most of us are taller than our parents, who probably are taller than their parents. But in the Netherlands, the generational progression has reached new heights. In the last 150 years, the Dutch have become the tallest people on Earth - and experts say they're still getting bigger. It is a tale of a nation's health and wealth.” Source

Okay, okay, I know that I've been making too much of my Dutchness in recent posts. I'm sorry about that, dear blog friends – I'm really not that nationalistic. However... I just had to share this important piece of information with you and I also wanted to show the video below that I made yesterday on our beach to back up the claims about Dutch people being extremely tall. Have a look and judge for yourself!


According to the news paper article “prosperity propelled the collective growth spurt” in the Netherlands. But I know better - of course. This is my theory: as one of the most densely populated (392 people per km²), smallest (only 0.008% of the world's area), lowest and flattest countries on the planet we have so little space that we need to grow tall in order to get some fresh air. It's the evolution, stupid! The good thing about this is that we have the biggest skies in the world and more foreign territory than any other country (with the exception of Andorra) and we are tall enough to keep an eye on the rest of the planet from our modest point of view, which explains why Dutch people are excellent supervisors. And now you also know why the pope resides in Vatican City. But the pope is a German! Okay, let me explain... Unfortunately all the Dutch candidates were too tall and too heavy for the Holy See.

But I digress... So I went to the beach with my son Robin and daughter Sosha yesterday. You can see both of them from a distance at the end of the video. I needed this distance because they are real giants. Being on the beach with them was also great. As you can see it was a very calm sea and there were not that many people. You can't see it, but it was very chilly because of the East wind. I will upload some pics on my photo blog later today. Have a look!

And in case you're wondering why it's getting so dark in this world... I'm sorry to tell you that my daughter Sosha has swallowed the sun. So this is our last picture taken without flash light... © Robin

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dutch Pope...hmmmm. Has there ever been a Dutch Pope?

Maybe that can be your next job ;)

Anonymous said...

Paul as a Dutch pope? I'll rephrase your question, Mike...has there ever been a Baptist Dutch pope?! ;)

I guess I've been out of the loop all my life. I only heard - for the first time in my life - a reference last week to just how tall the Dutch people are. Are you all really that tall? I'm of German and French ancestry, and I'm very short, only 61 inches tall.

Paul said...

@ Mike - Pope Adrian VI (Utrecht, March 2, 1459 – September 14, 1523), born Adriaan Florenszoon Boeyens, son of Floris Boeyens, served as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1522 until his death. He was the last non-Italian pope until John Paul II. He is, together with Marcellus II, one of two modern popes to retain his baptismal name as his regnal name. He is buried in the German national church in Rome, Santa Maria dell'Anima. He was the only Dutch Pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.

I don't know whether he was a little or tall guy, but his reign was very short: from 1522-1523.

@ Vicki - let me rephrase your question too: has there ever been a married Baptist Dutch pope with kids? And if so, was he taller than 1.73 meters? Yep, I'm a small guy compared to most Dutch men. But I have a big mouth to compensate that. So maybe I can become the next pope! ;-)

Anonymous said...

I wonder what effect there would be on the Roman Catholic Church, should a married man, father of three, Baptist and Dutch become pope (and a relatively short pope at that)? I'm not saying a word about anyone having a big mouth. I've learned a lot about Holland and the world since I first "met" you, and I'm not complaining!

Carolanne said...

Well, I'd just like to say that since I go to a church largely populated by Dutch people, there are those whose height is from one extreme to the other. We have one lady who has to bring a stool to church to rest her feet on it because they can't touch the floor and it hurts her back.
My son who is 6' 4" can stand with a group of men and blend in with them.
However, I did know that Dutch people are considered the tallest in the world - I thought I saw a video clip (documentary) about this last year sometime?