Virginia ? To all those people who blurt out “Wow, you’re tall!” as they stare up at George Bell: He knows.

And now, the world will know, too.

The lanky, 7-foot-8 Norfolk sheriff’s deputy is being recognized today by Guinness World Records as the Tallest Man in the United States.

That makes him 2 inches taller than the NBA’s current tallest player, Yao Ming, but too short to be the world’s tallest living man. He stands below, according to Guinness, Ukraine’s 8-foot-5.5 Leonid Stadnyk and China’s Bao Xi Shun, who is 7 feet 8.95 inches.

To answer the inevitable questions:

Bell wears size-19 shoes, pants with a 43-inch inseam and shirts with 45-inch sleeves.

He did play basketball, in college and with the Harlem Wizards and Harlem Globetrotters show teams.

Bell was to be revealed as America’s tallest man on ABC’s “Good Morning America” today, when 200,000 people worldwide were expected to celebrate Guinness World Records Day by attempting to set records of their own.