What is the trait you most deplore in others?

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.

Recorded Erin O'Connor said elsewhere, not written here
Unnecessary judgment.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 March 2008 source ↗

Others on this question

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I’m irritated by critics and academics who dismiss poetry that is popular, comprehensible or humorous.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 January 2026 source ↗
Richard Feynman Theoretical physicist; Nobel laureate in Physics, 1965
I would like to add something that’s not essential to the science, but something I kind of believe, which is that you should not fool the layman when you’re talking as a scientist.
Recorded Caltech commencement address, Engineering and Science / Caltech Magazine, 1974 source ↗

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