What is Big?

“Big beautiful legs…Is there a woman that would find this to be a complement?” I asked a friend on the phone this morning.  I heard this stated to a woman as my family walked down Pennsylvania Ave on Sunday.

“I can see that it could be taken as a complement.”

“Big, beautiful legs?  I don’t see that the average American woman would take this as a complement.  Most women I know do not like to be referred to as “big” in most any sense of the word.”

“I like a woman who has muscle on her legs.  Some women just have  stick legs.”

Is “big” referring to muscle tone?  As a woman, I have come to associate “big” with “large.”    Perhaps I am allowing myself to define “big” too narrowly?  My daughter refers to herself as big – meaning she is tall.  So I could believe that the man who yelled the statement above was referring to the fact that the woman might have a more muscular leg? 

I wonder how she took it?  Did she see the statement as a complement?

This is one of those times (and there are many of them) when I wish I could observe the inner working of the male mind.  What did he think would happen?  What made him say such a statement out loud?  Was he appreciating what he saw?

Honestly, it never crosses my mind to proclaim, loudly, in a public setting “Great chest!” or “What broad shoulders!” or even “That’s quite a big bulge you have there!” 

It is a stretch for me to come up with “you have a great smile” in a soft voice to a stranger in a public setting.  In fact, I don’t think I have ever said anything like that.  I might have commented to friends about some guy’s smile or eyes or shoulders or hands, or…  but never to a strange guy or possibly even one I know. 

I have been on the receiving end of comments “Great smile” and a wolf call here and there, especially when I lived outside the Shipyard in Norfolk.  Got to love those military guys who don’t hesitate to whistle from the comfort of their cars! 

But “big, beautiful legs?”