To have one’s height measured

La Rochelle, july 2014.

Barely entered in our lives, they keep on changing, making us laugh, amazing us. They regularly put us to the test , momentarily annoy us , but mostly they surprise us and, of course, grow as the days go by. So to keep track of their progress, to compare, discuss and being collectively aware of size differences, they are regularly measured. The process often involves the registration of the first name, the number of centimeters and the date on the same wall. This is an opportunity to move through time: in the past, to realize how the growth has been meteoric, but also in the future, anticipating the number of centimeters potentially gained in two or three months. This is also the time when all family members are reviewed, the one where the size hierarchy is sometimes debated, and positions somewhat redistributed.
But make no mistake. What exactly is meant by “family” varies from one dwelling to another. If the measure is generally applied to children, and sometimes parents to broaden the range of the comparison, it also happens that pets are enrolled in the course. This is the case here, where the two cats are regularly subjected to the same treatment: sit up straight, stretch fully well propped against the wall, but not put on the tips of the legs to cheat during the operation. Then, this measure takes on a special significance. By entering the name of the cats, their size and the date, it doesn’t only consist in recording their growth. The elements assembled by each entry plays on both commensurability made ​​possible by the numbers and the grouping of descriptors in one place. This projection on the same plane draws the common perimeter of all family members. Refusing to draw any anthropomorphic or anthropometric, consequence, a scriptopolian admire such an operation.