Thawed

There is, it is rumored, a phenomenon known as "the Seattle Freeze," and it is much discussed and argued about here in the Seattle area. Some people swear it's a real thing, and others have determined that it's a myth.

In my own experience as an expatriate Chicagoan living in the Seattle area, I'd long suspected it was something of a real thing, but that's it's mainly a difference in styles and what is considered polite. But I'd been in New York State for the week, and I noticed something striking when I was suburban New York City. Unlike Seattlites, New Yorkers seem to actively enjoy talking to strangers. Random conversations that I would strike up with people, either on the street or across a counter, would routinely run longer than they do here in Seattle. (Not to mention that people just seemed more likely to say "Hello," when you encountered them.)

I, for my part, actively enjoy having random conversations with people I don't know. And the impression that I received from people in New York was that they enjoyed it, too. It was common to come away from a conversation with the idea that the short interaction I'd just had with someone genuinely brightened their day. Not in the sense of a complete turnaround, but that they found value in the chance to talk to someone about something of interest to them, and they were therefore happy to have had the opportunity. I don't get that same vibe from speaking to people in the Seattle area, although they're friendly enough.

And maybe that's why the subject of the Seattle Freeze can be so contentious. I suspect that many Seattlites feel that they're being called out for being, unfriendly, rude or even snobbish for not engaging in what strikes them as meaningless small talk (even though the Seattle Freeze is bigger phenomenon than that). And that sense of being criticized, especially by people who aren't from here, rankles. Maybe what's needed is a new term, or a new way of talking about it. Assuming, of course, you can convince a Seattle native to talk to you...