# Tall or high ?



## michaelsanford (Jan 17, 2005)

My translation class was recently torn by a recent debate cocnerning the use of tall and high.

 For me the two have very concrete, complementary and easily definable meanings; this doesn't seem to be the case for the majority of speakers I've consulted and even many of the ESL sites I checked.

 So, in your own words, when would you use tall and when would you use high ? Again I'm not interested in quotations from sources, I have 'authoritative' sources going up the wazou, I'm interested in YOUR opinions.

 I'm speaking as a linguist here, so I'm interested not in what is 'right' but in how people are actually using it so don't be shy !


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## andychrist (Jan 17, 2005)

One might say a tower rises a thousand feet high, or stands one thousand feet tall.  On the other hand,  I am six feet tall, but only occasionally high.


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## TommyWillB (Jan 17, 2005)

Tall is the from point A to point B 'span' measurment of a person or thing. 



  6 feet tall.
6 stories tall.
taller than the next guy.
The tallest tower
  High is the a single unit of a elevation or heights. (i.e. only point B)


the top of his head is 6 feet high
the building rises to the height of 6 stories
heigher than the guy below him
the heighest floor


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## Randman (Jan 18, 2005)

Yep, Tommy is correct (not "right" but correct).


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## fryke (Jan 18, 2005)

Do you suggest he's "wrong", then?


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## Randman (Jan 18, 2005)

No. I suggest correct is the "more correct" phrase. "More right", if you will though it's like straight and forward. Most people will say go straight then hang a left when it should be  head forward then turn left.


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## andychrist (Jan 18, 2005)

And people will say "turn left" when they mean turn counter-clockwise.


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## Randman (Jan 18, 2005)

Counter-clockwise would mean to rotate, not to turn and head in a different direction. Sorry, nice try thought.


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## andychrist (Jan 18, 2005)

Ha, led you down the wrong garden path again with a deliberate non-sequitur!  

I said "people" not "Randman." 

People will say "turn [knob, etc.] left" when they mean turn [i.e. rotate] counter-clockwise.

Your "turn."


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## michaelsanford (Jan 18, 2005)

Yeah Tommy's explaination is wholly congruent with my own...I just wanted to see if I was the only one who still used it that way.

  Vindication feels good


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## gumse (Jan 18, 2005)

Well I'm 207cm so I'm considered "Tall", but i'm not "High" all the time


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## Randman (Jan 18, 2005)

::lol::


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## brianleahy (Jan 18, 2005)

Tall describes the dimensions of an object.
High describes the location of an object.

Which evokes a "Redneck joke" I once heard a comedian tell:

A redneck gets on a plane for his first ever airplane flight.  An hour in, he asks the stewardess: "Ma'am, how high is this plane?"

"40,000 feet", she says.

"Omigawd," the redneck gasps.  "How _wide_ is it?"

----

Apologies to all savvy rednecks out there...


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## michaelsanford (Jan 18, 2005)

Marvelous Brian ! I'm using that one in class ::ha::


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## Jeffo (Jan 18, 2005)

andychrist said:
			
		

> On the other hand,  I am six feet tall, but only occasionally high.




NICE!!!


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## adambyte (Jan 18, 2005)

I agree with Tommy. I am a real stickler when it comes to linguistics; Ask any of my friends.


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## scruffy (Jan 18, 2005)

Interestingly, when Germans take recreational drugs, they expand in the other direction - they become breit - wide or broad.


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## TommyWillB (Jan 19, 2005)

Hmmm.... 

 That's what happens to Americans when they eat.


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## brianleahy (Jan 19, 2005)

Well, sometimes getting high gives people the munchies...


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## Arden (Jan 19, 2005)

j00 c4n7 m355 w17h t3h 1337!~!!

Sorry... had to get that in there.  

I definitely agree with the tall describes dimension/high describes location conclusion.  The two words have very different meanings in my head.


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## Darkshadow (Jan 20, 2005)

I can mess with the "leet" if I feel like it. 

I use tall and high as described above _so long as_ I'm not using either to describe something.  If I'm describing something, I tend to interchange them.  i.e. "That building is too tall" and "That building is too high" have a 50-50 chance between 'em for me actually saying it.


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## brianleahy (Jan 20, 2005)

I occasionally slip up and say 'high' when I mean tall - but I'm always irritated with myself when I do so.

What can I say, I'm a bit of a linguistic nit-picker...


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## lurk (Jan 20, 2005)

In my little mind you just said two different things.  In the first case you are saying that the building is too tall itself whereas in the second you are saying that the top of the building is at too great an altitude.  For example if you get a little queazy when you are up in the air you might say "too tall" about an offer to go to the top of a sky scraper but "too hight" when talking about an Anasazi cliff dwelling.

Edit: I was replying to Darkshadow, Brian snuck in.


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## Darkshadow (Jan 20, 2005)

Right.  The weird thing is, I'd think the same thing if I heard someone else saying it, but then I myself will interchange them when I use them.  Just as in my above example, though.  I wouldn't ever say "He's six feet high" or something like that.


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## scruffy (Jan 20, 2005)

Interesting.  On reflection, I agree with the consensus that's coming out here - tall for distance from top to bottom, high for distance from a location to the centre of the earth (or the local ground level, or whatever).

But I don't think that's how I use it.  I would say "a tall building", but I would also say that a building is "eight storeys high".  Generally I would only use tall in the latter form when talking about a person or animal.

Of course, now I won't be able to use either word without doubting myself for the next few days...


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## Arden (Jan 21, 2005)

Heh... indeed.

The Empire State Building is taller than a hypothetical shack at the top of Mt. Everest, but the roof of the shack is higher than the roof of the ESB.  ¿Claro?


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## adambyte (Jan 21, 2005)

Scruffy... if you think about it in terms of "stories high" as a measurement, then the use of the word "high" is not weird at all.


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## CaptainQuark (Jan 21, 2005)

I'm a big fan of tall. My wife's tall (6'2") and Xlator's even taller (6'%"+). Me? I'm just high!


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