Medium and a Half: The Average and Normal Size?

Being average does not equate being normal.

My body must be disproportioned. Medium-sized anything fits a little too short and tight once it’s washed.  Anything that is a large-sized ends up being a little baggy even if it’s washed in hot water and dried on “high heat”.

When a long sleeve shirt fits me right, the sleeves are always a little bit too long and the bottom of the shirt is too short.  So there’s not much to tuck in.  That either means my arms are shorter than normal or my torso is longer than normal.  Or maybe a little bit of both.

And pants, those are always weird.  My pants size is 33×31.  I am the average American male height: 5’ 9”.  And my weight is normal for my height: around 160 pounds.  Yet it’s almost impossible to find my pants size when I buy pants.

I have to settle for either 34×30 or 33×34.  So my pants are either a bit too big around the waste and a little too short in the legs, or they’re too long.

If I’m so average-sized, why don’t clothing companies make clothes that fit me?


Storms off, stage left.  Pants dragging the ground.