Were the fathers mothers and grandfathers of these girls all tiny people also?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height

Wikipedia is a help sometimes. You see there is no difference in height between young Spaniards and Brits

One of the things I hate people saying is that people are "evolving" either to be taller, cleverer, fatter, whatever

This isnt the case at all. The human race hasnt evolved for the best part of 100,000 years. If you transported a human from 50,000 years ago and put him in modern society then he would grow up and be like everyone else

It is human society and the environment that is constantly changing and developing.

As for jackytoo, yes some people are tall and others short But there are no great differences between the different European nations among generations from the past 35 years where noone has grown up hungry. There are great differences between the older generations for this very same reason

As I said earlier the difference is so great it's difficult to understand. Most Europeans have been getting progressively taller with each generation but none to anything like the extent of the Spanish from what I have seen.

Another thing I noticed during my years in the Canaries was a difference in ppls.height between different islands those in El Hierro appearing particularly short as I recall.
Whether this is down to diet over the years or genetics or both, I'm not too sure, however the islands were settled at different periods of time by ppl.from different areas of the peninsula so maybe this also had a bearing on it.

My prediction for the future,for what it's worth, is that the ever increasing height of ppl. in the Western world at least, will now begin slowing down or maybe even stopping as an ever decreasing amount of time is spent in an upright position.

El Hierro is probably so small that they depend on fish for their diet. Fish is very healthy but doesnt contain natual growth hormones that humans can use.

I dont expect humans to get that much taller, unless our diet changes again through increased processing and industrialisation.

For example, it could all become GM and from cloned animals who are pumped with artifical growth hormones and antibiotics. This could effect the way we look physically. Indeed some cite the artificial growth hormones (used since the 50s in the US, banned in Europe) as the reason why American children reach pubity a couple of years earlier than Europeans, when we effectively have the same genetics.

Man boobs (Moobs) are apparently caused by the increased amount of oestrogen found in processed foods e.g. in soya, palm oil (used as fillers) and the plastic lining of microwaved meals

OH and I are just about the same heights as you both are.

Up until now OH has always moaned that he cant have a decent bath as usually they are small but our house now has a lovely big bath.

He calls me a midget sometimes but I feel tall when I see some people.

However, I see them growing even bigger, much as giant vegetables do. Lying down doing nothing stuffing their faces and growing taller and wider at a rate of knots.

Just look at the size of young peoples feet these days. Girls with size 9´s and boys with massive size 14´s. Whats that all about?

Don't know the explanation but the older spanish are definately much smaller on average than other Europeans. We used to live close to Tiempo Libre where all the spanish pensioners go on subsidised holidays. They always went about in large groups (took ten of them to buy 1 bottle of water in the supermarket) Very noticable that they were all about 4'6

A Friend's Son plays basketball for málaga. Don't know his height except to say very tall. His parents are both about 5'5.

Well I can only speak about the people in my local village and, yes, generally the older men are also short - they don't seem to have the bandy legs as much as the ladies though, their sons and daughters are noticeably taller and the teenage and the twenty-something grandchildren taller still. As I said, that can't be down to genetics in such a short space of time.

For example, I am only 5' and look down on both abuelos next door - they often talk about the terrible hunger when they were young - he had to leave school at 10 years old, doesn't read & write and can't tell the time - he worked on the fields apart from a stint in the army and also a spell working in a factory in Germany. He still works on the campo every day at 78!

His three children - in their 40s - are taller than me and are all overweight and the grand-daughter who is 19 is a good 7 or 8 inches taller than me, she has a two-year old daughter herself - it'll be interesting to see how she turns out.

Yeh, it obviously can have a queer effect.

I watched a documentary about villages located around some huge lake in Russia into which the run off from a pill factory had been dumped for several generations.

Apparently the water from the lake was the main source of drinking water and also believed to be the reason why most of the male population in the surrounding villages had turned more than a little bit ginger beer.

If we were in the UK I would say look at her feet, much as we look at a puppys feet to judge how big it could grow to. Unfortunately Spanish parents dont have the choice of footwear that is in the UK so cram their kids feet into small narrow shoes from day 1 thus restricting their growth.

My God, you come out with the most biggoted tosh I've ever heard. You should be reported for hate crimes!

No it's just that they wear away with time

Yes, well I've yet to find a pair of trainers or shoes in Spain that I can get my great oversize pasties into.

Where do you guys shop? I've not found any difference

I'm a UK size 11, ok not so big. But half the time they had run out of this size in the UK. I think because they used to understock it.

They always have sizes 45 (11) and 46 (12) in Spain wherever I go (e.g. El Corte Inglés, the sport shops, Camper). If you are bigger than that then it will be difficult. Maybe ask in the "tallas grandes" section of El Corte Inglés.

On the other hand my OH is a UK size 3 (35 in Spain) and could never find shoes that fit in the UK. She doesnt have small feet because her parents shoved her into ill fitting shoes though!

I'm a little bit bigger than a normal 12 and very much wider too.
My lad struggles to get into a size 13.
The Spanish must have very skinny feet as well as being on the short side, so I've never seen any extra wide fittings either.
It's a bit of a struggle even back in the UK but luckily I can get it sorted on the internet now via the "Big Mans Shop" where I get most of my stuff.
There's another one quite good also called "Big Ozzy".