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Like the inverse of one-upmanship. For example, if you mention that you're a little short on money this month and then a certain type of friend begins to discuss how they are the single poorest person to ever walk the earth as if to prove they are much more efficient at being living in poverty.

It might just be "one-upmanship" but I'm curious to know if there's a word for when a said person seemingly wants to appear worse off or in a worse position than someone else.

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  • For ailments, one-upmanship syndrome "...the habit of some patients of exaggerating the symptoms of their particular condition—e.g., worse symptoms, greater pain, ... which may evoke greater sympathy in spectators."
    – DjinTonic
    Commented Oct 20, 2021 at 14:46
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    Well, since the 60s, and the Monty Python 'Four Yorkshireman' sketch I've always called such people professional Yorkshiremen, though I realise I probably shouldn't. Well when I say 'house' it was only a hole in the ground covered by a piece of tarpolin, but it was a house to US and so forth
    – High Performance Mark
    Commented Oct 20, 2021 at 14:53
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    You could of course coin "one-downmanship." But maybe this is a duplicate: english.stackexchange.com/questions/287760/…
    – Andy Bonner
    Commented Oct 20, 2021 at 14:54
  • Isn't a race to the bottom still one-upmanship?
    – Yosef Baskin
    Commented Oct 20, 2021 at 14:55
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    @Prem; (lol out loud) Of course we didn't have much to work with at that. A scrap of greasy cardboard and a broken stick. But that was our uniform and we turned out right enough.
    – Elliot
    Commented Oct 23, 2021 at 17:37

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