Comparing themselves to other people.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 September 2023 source ↗
values
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A verbatim standing question in The Guardian's rotating Q&A questionnaire, documented across respondents and years.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
One of 24 questions in The Q&A here.
On the record
Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.
Read by field
Everyone
Arts and letters 51
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Sport 1
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Any age
In their thirties 10
In their forties 10
In their fifties 15
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Seventy and beyond 11
People who aren’t polite.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 November 2025 source ↗
Greed, lack of empathy. Same thing.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 November 2025 source ↗
Those who create the doom.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 December 2025 source ↗
Jealousy. It’s the thief of joy.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 January 2026 source ↗
Certainty. I also can’t stand it when someone calls you and then says, “Wait, I need to put my headphones in.”
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 31 January 2026 source ↗
Superiority. I shrink when I’m around people who act superior, whether it’s due to authority or intellect. I almost become mute.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 March 2026 source ↗
Careless cruelty.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 May 2026 source ↗
Snobbishness, superiority, condescension.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 May 2026 source ↗
When they ruin my story because they think theirs is better, so butt in before I’ve finished mine.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 August 2026 source ↗
0 answers from members
Nobody has answered this one yet.