The question
Which trait in yourself do you like least?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Speaking negatively to myself.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 August 2026 source ↗
I’m chronically late. It’s magical thinking: I actually believe I can take a shower and get dressed in three minutes, that the train will be pulling into the station the moment I arrive….
Always saying yes to people. For example, I’m doing this.
I can’t stand the way my voice will crack if I’m making a speech. I hate public speaking and the emotion it dredges up.
Self-righteousness and a phobia of embarrassment.
I would become fitter younger. Because I would have been hotter younger!
Enthusiastic, resilient, empathetic.
A mix – safety to be yourself, acceptance, a feeling of peace and reliance, but also challenge, whether that’s intellectual or emotional.
I’ve never read any Salman Rushdie.
When I was in my 20s, I had an uncle who took his own life. I would like a second chance to say: “Hang in there.” My parents were living abroad, and me and my sister were just too young to notice the flags.
When I concentrate, I put my thumb in my mouth. I once did it during a really important meeting when asked a question I didn’t know the answer to. When I left the meeting my friend said: “What did you put your thumb in your mouth for?” I didn’t know I’d done it.
Michelle Collins, Dawn O’Porter, Frank Bowling, Guz Khan, Cyndi Lauper, Chaka Khan
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