Great thread, OP. I've asked myself this same question so many times. I've never HAD to be around people like this growing up but I do have some very close people to me now that are exactly like this and it's one of the worse traits, imho. I have kind of a hard time dealing with it and many times I point out that I don't like those comments or they have a skewed view of the world but it's so ingrained that I normally just keep my mouth shut because it's people old enough that they most likely won't change now. I can't rant enough about how much I loathe this quality in a person and I sometimes am embarrassed when out about it.

The only conclusion I've come to is they have never learned how to make themselves feel good, it always has be a comparison so they feel exalted. I should shut up now.