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.
Greed, lack of empathy. Same thing.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 November 2025 source ↗
Passive aggression.
Arrogance, bullying, meanness – just try to be kind, it’s not difficult.
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.
Three versions of the same trait: deceit, hypocrisy, and manipulativeness.
Human, evolving and faithful.
Leaving the stage from a panic attack in my 20s. Hearing the audience angry.
I cried last week after talking about marriage equality with my daughters. My oldest let slip that she believed that if the supreme court overturned Obergefell, she wouldn’t have parents any more. I felt angry with my country and ashamed that I didn’t consider the possibility that she might think that.
Earnest, driven, Gemini.
To kids I bullied in school. I have apologised and I will continue to. To repay those things karmically, I will watch my kids’ hearts like a hawk for signs of hardening or any distortions of empathy that they might develop.
A lifelong sleepover.
Alfred Molina, Esther Freud, Rebecca Lucy Taylor, Shobna Gulati, Elton John, Nick Frost
Search the directory for somebody in particular.