"She's all arms and legs" meaning

[francyy]

Morning all,

Yesterday we were at a child's party and one of the mums saw my DD who is 3 and said "she's all arms and legs" and another mum said " oh yes I thought that too"

I was wondering what does that actually mean?

We live in North England (if that helps)

Tall and slim with long, slender limbs.
I think the equivalent for an adult would be something like "rangy".

I think it's a cute expression. It always makes me think of a foal.

<sigh> I was never 'all arms & legs'. At 55 I'm still not 5ft and I'm much more

One of my DS is what you would call all arms and legs. Mainly arms, his 'wingspan' is 180cm. When he was last measured at the hospital, the nurse did it twice. I'm just a tad over 5ft so he is very, very useful around the house for reaching things.

I live up north and I have heard that saying about someone clumsy to like if dancing and not dancing right etc

It's absolutely endearing. Like someone else said, like Bambi!

I say this about my niece 😁
She 18 just legs tbh so tall and skinny size 6 eats enough for an army.
And thick hair that hangs to the bends of her legs.
Fabulous girl so sweet.

Apparently if you measure them on their third birthday then double it, that will be their adult height ... Don't know if that's true!

Tall, rangy

That's exactly how I'd describe it. The stage of a foal when they have long spindly legs and are a little bit not sure where their limbs are so they fall over if they try to go too fast.
Very cute!

Definitely a nice comment.

Gangly and awkward, like a young calf or foal

Climbing and swimming are great sports for the long of limb!

Also keep a eye out if she ever complains of her feet hurting, I brushed my DD off for years as having growing pains as was very tall. Turns out she had Severs disease which is nothing to worry about particularly but is painful and it disappears when they reach their full height but is very common in tall children as the feet/heel/leg growth plates and tendons etc grow out of kilter. DD had to avoid high impact activities and take ibuprofen during a flare up.

It’s an enviable condition- being slender and long limbed.
sometimes it might suggest she’s a bit Bambi like- in that she’s ungainly/unsteady on her growth spurt body, but there is nothing negative in that description - even if they intended it as a slight!

Interesting to me that some see it as implying slim - for some reason it doesn't have that connotation for me. I think of it as more about proportions, having long limbs relative to torso

Tall and slim , gangly would be another word for it. Bit unkind of them to say that really

Haha, people say this about my 9 year old daughter. She is very tall and skinny and takes after her dad and big brother!! My other 3 daughters are short and normal slim like me lol.

People said this about my daughter when she was little, she really was all arms and legs too, built like a greyhound! She's 5'10" now but has grown into her length of limb and is less gangly 😆

That would have made DD2 6'6".

She always matched the height specified in her clothes on her birthday. At a pinch (ie, discounting the height loss from scoliosis), she'd have possibly got to 5'11" instead of 5'9".

Very long legs, though - well, compared to me at any rate. But I'm built for comfort rather than speed (or for reaching apples in a tree without a ladder).

Exactly this. Long-armed, long-legged, gangly. A neutral comment, neither complimentary nor derogatory.

Human spider monkey..

A shame kids appearance and builds are commented on at all (I can say that as someone who was a chubby kid - not obese but you’d think I was with all the comments I got that still have an effect 30+ years on but hey ho). People don’t think though, and I’d say it’s probably not meant in a derogatory way and far better than the term “lanky” that’s bandied about.

It’s roughly true, just for 2nd birthday rather than third.

Gangly and not in control of their limbs - basically Bambi.