ABSTRACT
Sometimes it seems as though the world actually resents our departures from the norm. Do you bump your head getting in and out of cars? The car salesman will give you a look that suggests that people over 6 feet tall are freaks and should expect such trouble. Do your feet fail to reach the floor when you sit in a chair? The furniture salesman's unconcerned shrug can make you feel guilty and inferior for being so short. Is your malady different from "what's going around"? The doctor's skeptical stare can make you feel like a hypochondriac. Economists repeatedly assure us that inflation is not bad, because incomes rise along with prices; what they mean, of course, is that average incomes rise, and people with nonaverage incomes are ignored.
