r/AskReddit Jul 13 '15

What socially unacceptable things are you OK with?

8.4k Upvotes

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280

u/Indy12 Jul 13 '15

Nope, I'm a guy. I've got morquio syndrome though, not that people tend to differentiate a ton between dwarfisms.

271

u/FictionalFear Jul 13 '15

Are there visual difference in the different forms of dwarfism? I had no idea there were different forms and now I am curious.

355

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '15

[deleted]

74

u/CopyRogueLeader Jul 13 '15

Do you know what specific types of Dwarfism they have?

213

u/Pokez Jul 13 '15

Peter Dinklage has Achondroplasia. While Verne Troyer has a much rarer condition known as Cartilage–hair hypoplasia. I'm just basing this off wikipedia, but /u/vernetroyer is also a pretty active redditor, if he wanted to chime in.

23

u/ridicalis Jul 14 '15

/u/vernetroyer won me over with his shark costume, and quickly found himself one of the few celebs I actually care to pay attention to. Yes, active redditor and a good contributor to the site.

6

u/bolognese1 Jul 14 '15

well damn. TIL.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '15

He's made the front page a few times. Funny guy.

24

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '15

[deleted]

8

u/Shaysdays Jul 14 '15

Meredith Eaton, who people are also familiar with, has pseudoachondroplasia.

8

u/Bigirishjuggalo1 Jul 14 '15

Friend met her while on a trip to LA and came back telling us how nice and friendly she was. Beautiful woman as well. :)

2

u/burrito987 Jul 14 '15

I enjoyed her in Boston Legal, very funny

2

u/Ananasboat Jul 14 '15

Meredith Eaton

It's funny, because on an episode of House she was on, her daughter had "fake dwarfism" and Meredith had Achondroplasia. It's interesting.

23

u/Karzoth Jul 13 '15

It's odd, I'd never considered it but now you put it like that it's incredibly obvious.

3

u/dragontail Jul 13 '15

Same here.

4

u/KeijyMaeda Jul 14 '15

I just looked them up for comparison and now I am aware that Peter Dinklage is much taller than Verne Troyer, in comparison.

I also realize the differences now.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '15

Not to mention that when it comes to women, Verne Troyer has mad game.

10

u/tmpick Jul 14 '15

Yeah, I'm sure Peter Dinklage wouldn't be hurting for female companionship.

6

u/evoic Jul 14 '15

Perfect response and example for the average Joe to grasp the concept.

-2

u/Golgon3 Jul 13 '15

Peter - Dwarf.

Verne - Halfling.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '15

[deleted]

3

u/FicklePickle13 Jul 14 '15

Dinklages accent is weird in the context of psuedo-English accents but is very consistent. I could see it believably being a mild speech impediment on the characters' part.

-46

u/Urban_Viking Jul 13 '15

Yeah Peter is like a Fantasy dwarf fat and small but Verne is more like a gnome or something because hes smaller.

608

u/LibraryGeek Jul 13 '15

Huuuuge differences. One of the biggest is in whether your trunk is of average/near average size and your extremities are shortened (achondroplasia) or if you trunk is dwarfed with longer arms/legs (my weirdly rare but dominant form of dwarfism) Also whether your skull and spine are involved. Note that these all are types of dwarfism that involve skeletal proportions that are "not normal".

If the dwarfism is caused by hormonal issues, you will get a person with no skeletal problems, just tiny.

There are...over two hundred forms of dwarfism :) we are..legion!

208

u/JurassicArc Jul 13 '15

Two hundred? I thought there were only seven.

55

u/ColsonIRL Jul 13 '15

Hey-oh

145

u/JurassicArc Jul 13 '15

I think you mean "Hi-ho".

123

u/Veggiemon Jul 13 '15

jesus, do people with dwarfism have to deal with puns like this IRL? I'd punch someone. then again i'm a little grumpy.

-6

u/philjk93 Jul 13 '15

Grumpy the dwarf?

Edit: wrong link

9

u/Veggiemon Jul 13 '15

thatsthejoke.jpg

I even said "little" man

1

u/philjk93 Jul 14 '15

Whooossh my bad

1

u/juicius Jul 14 '15

We would have accepted, "short temper."

3

u/kjata Jul 13 '15

"Lali-ho!" is also correct.

1

u/LordoftheSynth Jul 14 '15

It's all fun and games until the princess lets her fucking dolls run amok.

1

u/RedRoronoa Jul 14 '15

I.. I thought it was just the two..

12

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '15

So this might be an odd question, but does there exist bigotry between different types of dwarf?

10

u/Ysmildr Jul 14 '15

So... If a person has achondroplasia, is it plausible that you could cut off their arms and legs and replace them with bionics and they'd be a relatively normal size? Assuming skull and spine are not involved.

3

u/Metalyellow Jul 14 '15

The bones that form the cranial base (bottom of the skull) actually have cartilage precursors, so the skull is affected in achondroplasia.

1

u/cara123456789 Jul 14 '15

I think some people get the arm and leg lenghtining surgeries which makes them almost a regular height

5

u/solely_magnus Jul 14 '15

weirdly rare but dominant form of dwarfism

what's it called

17

u/Satanic_Earmuff Jul 13 '15

Am I the only one who thought trunk was innuendo?

4

u/Kahmeleon Jul 13 '15

Nope, but then again, I'm an ass.

7

u/laconicsherpa Jul 14 '15

right? ARE WE NOT DOING PHRASING ANYMORE?

1

u/drunky_crowette Jul 14 '15

Nope. I got really excited about Peter Dinklage for a minute there

3

u/SubcommanderMarcos Jul 14 '15

There are...over two hundred forms of dwarfism :) we are..legion!

Ho shit, til

That's kinda awesome, actually

9

u/ginfish Jul 13 '15

I feel like you know enough about dwarfism that i should ask you this question.

I suppose men with dwarfism are affected... you know... at all zones of their bodies. (I truly don't know how to formulate this without possibly offending someone or google this without fear of something finding this somehow in my search history).

22

u/Umbos Jul 13 '15

Haven't you read A Song of Ice and Fire? Between the legs, Tyrion is made no differently than any other man.

No, but seriously, most dwarfism is caused by a genetic mutation that only affects the skeleton. Anything not made of cartilage or bone is not affected.

12

u/ThePlanckConstant Jul 14 '15

That's a lot of dong for a little guy.

9

u/Shaysdays Jul 14 '15

Maybe, maybe not. "The same as average size men" means they can run the gamut.

5

u/Roast_A_Botch Jul 14 '15

It's relative though. A 6' man with a 6" dong will look tiny but that same dong on a 3" man looks much bigger.

It's the same as how your dong looks bigger in a 6-year olds hand.

7

u/Shaysdays Jul 14 '15

A three inch man with a six inch dong would look a bit disproportionate, yes.

But my point was that since it affects skeletal structure, the penis size would be the same (for most forms of dwarfism) as average size men. Whether it looks bigger on them makes no difference to the size in and of itself.

1

u/ThePlanckConstant Jul 14 '15

It's the same as how your dong looks bigger in a 6-year olds hand.

ಠ_ಠ

5

u/ginfish Jul 14 '15

Thanks, i truly didnt know and that's just a weird question to ask... so yeah...

1

u/LibraryGeek Jul 19 '15

I think my father is average sized there, even though he is mayyyyyybe 4'9". I've heard jokes about Acon (acondroplastic) men being "tripods" so....take that as you will I guess!

3

u/xDialtone Jul 13 '15

Must be popular at D&D gatherings.

1

u/LibraryGeek Jul 19 '15

Ha! I like to play as a gelfling for obvious reasons :) A Rogue gelfling to be more precise :)

1

u/Jov_West Jul 13 '15 edited Jul 13 '15

Are there just as many females with Dwarfism as males? It seems like males are more common.

1

u/LibraryGeek Jul 14 '15

Yes there are there just fewer crazy little women a la Little Man lol when I went to little people get togethers (many moons ago) there were often more girls than guys. I don't have specific numbers for you though. It is possible that some of the recessive types favor one gender.

-1

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '15

[deleted]

7

u/moeru_gumi Jul 14 '15

5'7" counts? Jesus, I'm 5'3".

4

u/knuggles_da_empanada Jul 14 '15

I think OP is either trolling or misinformed. Googling shows that the line they draw is 4'10 after puberty. You're not a dwarf.

4

u/Roast_A_Botch Jul 14 '15

5'7" is not dwarfism. You can have that condition, but if you're over 4'10" after puberty, you're not a dwarf. Hell, you'd be a tall girl and only a couple inches under average height male. I'm sure it sucks being short, but you're not that short.

3

u/knuggles_da_empanada Jul 14 '15

Jeez 5'7 isn't freakishly short and I'm assuming you're a straight guy and as a 5'7 girl I am considered on the taller side and I'd say about 80% of women I see are shorter than me by like 2 inches at least. I'm skeptical because how the heck could that be considered "dwarf" by any standards? They're just being mean, if you're being serious.

1

u/Roast_A_Botch Jul 14 '15

The cut-off is under 4'10" after puberty.

1

u/drunky_crowette Jul 14 '15

You are literally just a few inches shy of average. You aren't a dwarf, at most you're a dummy.

-1

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '15

[deleted]

1

u/drunky_crowette Jul 14 '15

The definition of dwarfism says 4'10 or below.

How does that make me an ass?

-2

u/cutanddried Jul 13 '15

huuuuge.

Dwarfism...

no one?...

1

u/LordoftheSynth Jul 14 '15

Dwarfism is only huge if you're a Super Dwarf.

22

u/CrisisOfConsonant Jul 13 '15

Just a random question for you since you said dwarfism. How do most people who have dwarfism feel about the phrase "little people"? My understanding is that is the politically correct nomenclature. But, as someone with no skin in the game, that seems like a really clunky way to describe yourself.

Is that really what most people with dwarfism want to be called or is that like the vocal minority pushing that?

Honestly I can see why people might not want to be called dwarves, as it may conjure images of folk creatures. But why did midget go out of style? To me it seems to have no connotations aside from stature.

So I know you probably have to answer these questions all the time. I don't mean malice or to annoy, but I figure it's not something I can understand from a Google search.

23

u/ligyn Jul 13 '15 edited Jul 13 '15

I can't remotely claim to speak for most people with dwarfism, and yes, "little person" is supposedly the preferred phrase, but a friend of mine with dwarfism absolutely hates this term.

He's a guy in his 30s... I would imagine that many adult men might not like the idea of "little" anything being part of a label for them. The way he sees it is that he has a medical condition, and he'd rather it be called by its appropriate medical term: dwarfism. Other people view it less medically and more as a part of their core identity, and I suppose that's why they prefer "little people".

11

u/_Doh_ Jul 14 '15

"Little people" always sounds patronising to me. I don't see what's wrong with referring to someone with dwarfism as "a person with dwarfism".

1

u/thenichi Jul 14 '15

Where does imp fall on the scale?

2

u/FicklePickle13 Jul 14 '15

It seems an odd thing to nitpick, but all the stuff I'm reading on dwarfism is very insistent that the correct plural form is 'dwarfs'.

Apparently 'dwarves' was a very uncommon variant until Tolkien got his books out there, and is pretty much always properly used when speaking about the fantasy creatures.

They also say that when speaking of relative size, 'f's are in order, i.e., "The elephant dwarfs it's greatest fear, the common field mouse."

2

u/kjata Jul 13 '15

I believe that "midget" just means you're scaled down, whereas dwarfism encompasses a large subset of atypical proportions. Although, to be completely honest, I have no particular knowledge on the subject, so get a second opinion.

1

u/FicklePickle13 Jul 14 '15

It did used to be used in that context, but only ever saw common usage, never in any medical field. It's basically impossible to separate 'midget' from where it was born, being used by the Middle Class in the early 19th century to equate people with more aesthetically pleasing forms of dwarfism with children, and circuses and sideshows.

0

u/sgtzee Jul 14 '15

Read that as mosquito syndrome...Sorry...

-38

u/Familiastone Jul 13 '15 edited Jul 13 '15

Can I be the really tall guy in this party, pleeeeeease?

Edit: Guess not... :(