Talking in cliches. We have the most economic, resonant and versatile language in the world, yet so many people use it in a dull and boring way.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 April 2022 source ↗
The question
What trait do you most dislike in other people?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.
Talking in cliches. We have the most economic, resonant and versatile language in the world, yet so many people use it in a dull and boring way.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 April 2022 source ↗
Lying. Let’s not call it “untruthful.” Or “factually inaccurate.” I don’t even call it bullshit, because I like bulls. And bulls need to shit. So you can’t hold that against them. Let’s call it what it is: lying.
It’s a toss-up between mean and petty.
Passive aggression.
Two-faced phony-baloneys.
We live in a fearful age: Brexit, Covid, global warming, cancel culture, war in Ukraine. Add in pancreatic cancer and you find me in an advanced and complex state of anxiety.
When I first met Richard, in 1992, on a British Council writers’ tour of Adelaide. We were drinking Australian lager while parakeets squawked rudely in the neighbourhood gumtrees.
The only drink I really, really like is champagne.
Like coming home.
A cream suit from Chanel that cost almost as much as a small car.
Working as the assistant to an agony aunt on a women’s magazine. When we didn’t get enough heartbreaking letters, we made them up.
Lolita Chakrabarti, Fay Ripley, Kathy Lette, Jane Asher, Elmore Leonard, Kazuo Ishiguro
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