Andrew O’Hagan: What trait do you most dislike in other people? — FLAPSS

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.

AO

Andrew O’Hagan

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Making people smaller than they are because of something they can’t handle in themselves.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Others on this question

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Gina Lollobrigida

I don’t like false or opportunistic people.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, July 2013 source ↗

Christine Baranski

Pettiness, arrogance, boorishness.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, June 2013 source ↗

John Waters American filmmaker

Judgmental without investigation.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 September 2008 source ↗

Martin Scorsese

Actually, I dislike dealing with schedules and logistics—mine and others’.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, March 2010 source ↗

More from Andrew O’Hagan

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Question When were you most embarrassed? Failure & regret

My first holy communion, where my trousers were too big for me and fell down, a circumstance which earned me both the instant contempt of the girls and the heightened interest of the priests. That’s just how it was in 1975.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Question Which trait in yourself do you like least? Identity & self

My interest in Los Angeles.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Question What disappointment has stayed with you longest? Failure & regret

The internet. Such potential for good and for levelling up the world, but such a quagmire in reality.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Question How would you describe what love feels like to you? Relationships

Like getting out of the right side of the bed every morning, even when you don’t.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Question How would you sum yourself up in three words? Identity & self

Just. Hanging. On.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Question As a child, what career or life did you imagine for yourself? Identity & self

Most days, I wanted to be Albrecht in the classical ballet Giselle, dancing until I dropped dead.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

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