Does Your WIP Contain Too Many Repetitions of Short?

This post provides hundreds of ways to replace short when used to describe a person.

Before we consider replacements, though, consider this: Mention of a person’s occupation can often establish height. Readers expect characters such as jockeys and child-actor stunt doubles to be short.

People from previous centuries tended to be shorter than those of today. Remember this as you write, and provide a storyline that matches the period in which your narrative is based.

Emotion Beats and Physical Manifestations

Short people feel frustrated when they can’t grasp objects beyond their reach. Likewise when they can’t find clothing that fits — even petite sizes — resulting in purchases from the teen department. No worries, except that outlandish colors or styles might be considered unsuitable by elderly shoppers.

Short midriffs and love handles are a nuisance for short people. Character reactions might include self-deprecating remarks, fad diets, and excessive exercising.

People often consider shorties cute or adorable, and said shorties might react with frowns or mumbled cursing when fawned over by well-meaning but annoying people.

Although IQ and athletic ability don’t correlate with height, folks sometimes expect less from a short person. That person might feel inadequate and work hard to impress peers.

Adjectives and Adjectival Phrases

In addition to common descriptors such as petite, you can create adjectives by adding suffixes.

-esque: akin to; like; resembling

If an adjective ends in a vowel, precede esque with a dash. Likewise for lengthy words that might cause confusion; eg, bubbleesque becomes bubble-esque.

-ish: having the characteristics of

Apply the same guidelines as for esque, preceding the suffix with a dash if the modifier ends in a vowel, or if the word could be misconstrued without it.

A to R
abbreviated in stature, bantam, bubble-esque, compact, compressed, diminutive, dinky, elfin, incy, incy-wincy, itty-bitty, Lilliputian, little, low to the ground, low-rise, low-set, low-slung, mini, miniature, peewee, petite, pint-sized, pixyish, pocket-sized, puny, runty

S to W
sawed-off, sawn-off, shrimpy, slight, small, smallish, squat, stubby, stumpy, stunted, teensy, teensy-weensy, teeny, teeny-weeny, tincy, tiny, titchy, truncated in stature, underdeveloped, undersized, untall, wee, weeny

Similes and Metaphors

Here’s where your writing can shine, as long as you avoid purple prose. If you invent a memorable phrase, use it only once. Rather than copy any of the following, leverage them as creativity seeds.

See the Nouns section for more ideas.

Phrases you could edit to suit your narrative:

• a squat barrel of exploding energy
• like a [Barbie, porcelain] doll
• packed down and solid as the butter churn on the porch
• tinier than [a first-grader, his/her temper, a Kindergartener]
• with a stature that matches his/her attention span

The Versatility of Verbs and Phrasal Verbs

Rather than a simple list of verbs, I provided several phrases to stimulate your creativity. Many of these could lead to humorous storylines. Your short characters might:

• arrange to have pants or skirts hemmed, sleeves shortened, and suits altered
• ask for a leg up to climb into a large truck
• become a bully to disguise feelings of insecurity
• carry a folding stepstool while shopping for groceries
• cower when threatened by bullies
• crane their necks to talk to others
• grimace when someone pats them on the head
• pant and sweat while trying to keep up with taller people
• roll up pant legs and sleeves that are too long
• scowl or assault someone who implies that size of genitals equates with a person’s height
• shop multiple car dealers to find a vehicle that fits
• sit in the front row at a movie theater, and then get a crick in the neck from bending back to see the entire screen
• stand on a curb or footstool to see over a crowd
• stand on a stool in order to reach items in the bottom of a chest freezer
• strain to reach brake or gas pedal
• swagger to assert masculinity
• take risks to demonstrate authority or prowess
• wear shoe lifts or high heels in order to look taller

Characters Might Wince When Made the Object of “Short” Remarks

• “Are you a midget?”
• “Are you tall enough to ride the [Ferris wheel, roller coaster]?”
• “Can I fetch a booster seat for you?”
• “Can you see over the steering wheel?”
• “How’s the weather down there?”
• “Just the right height to be my armrest.”
• “That dog would be a horse for someone your size.”
• “Which dwarf are you?”
• “You look like [an Ewok, a little kid, a twelve-year-old].”

Nouns

Rather than write short [man, person, woman], consider one of these nouns, remembering that many connote a young person. A few are deprecatory.

B to W
bantam, brownie, dwarf, dwarfling, elf, half-pint, homuncule, homunculus, imp, leprechaun, Lilliputian, little slip, manikin, micro-hominid, mini-hominoid, midge, midget, minnow, nano-humanoid, nipper, peewee, pipsqueak, pixie, pixy, pocket peep, pygmy, runt, shaver, shorty, shrimp, small fry, sprite, sprout, squab [dated], squirt, stripling, tadpole, tiny-tot, titch, Tom Thumb, whippersnapper

Clichés and Idioms

Clichés and idioms have their place in dialogue. However, avoid hackneyed phrases such as the following unless they suit your narrator’s voice.

• knee-high to a [gnat, grasshopper]
• short and sweet
• vertically challenged