Dear Abby: He keeps coming up short with online dating

Dear Abby: I am a man in my late 40s who has been looking for love all my life.

One factor that has made it difficult is my height. I’m 4 feet 11 inches tall. What makes finding someone nearly impossible is that the online dating site profiles always ask for my height.

Unfortunately, being extremely short in stature isn’t a characteristic women are looking for, so even though I can spend upward of an hour filling out all that profile information, the system invariably returns a no-match for me.

Do you think I should lie about my height, and when I meet the person, hopefully she can give me a chance? — Shorty in California

Dear Shorty: Lying would be neither helpful nor appropriate, because the person you meet would then be inclined to wonder what else you were lying about.

My dear late mother once told me, “Smart women measure their men from the eyebrows up, not the hairline down,” and it’s true.

Some of the most brilliant and charming men I know are short, and it doesn’t make them less attractive. You may have better luck if you are introduced to women by people who know you — relatives, friends, friends of friends, etc.

You can also do a search online to see which sites have better results for shorter people. Some dating sites and apps even cater to shorter people.