To be knee-high to a grasshopper
This saying is used to describe someone who is very young or small in stature. When you say that someone is “knee-high to a grasshopper,” you’re emphasizing how young or tiny they were at some point in the past. The Imagery in this idiom is quite vivid: grasshoppers are small insects that are typically only a few inches tall, so if someone is “knee-high to a grasshopper,” it means they were even smaller than a tiny grasshopper when they were young.
This expression is often used in a nostalgic or affectionate way to reminisce about someone’s childhood or to highlight how much someone has grown or changed over time. By using this idiom, people convey a sense of fondness, humor, or even a bit of exaggeration when talking about someone’s past size or age. It’s a playful way to emphasize just how young or small someone was in comparison to a tiny grasshopper.