A social phenomenon that occurs in the Portland
Oregon area. It explains the difficulty of making new
friends in the city of
Portland, OR, especially being a transplant from outside of the city or state. New residents tend to describe Portlanders as generally polite but not warm and friendly. Very similar to the Seattle Freeze but possibly more perplexing because of the significant number of non-Oregonian/transplants in recent years.
Transplant: Hey, let's meet up sometime!
Portlander: *awkward silence for a few seconds*... Yeah. But I don't think I can,
sorry.
Transplant: Hey, you heard of the
Portland Freeze?
Portlander: Not really. Most
people are transplants anyway. Maybe you're just not social.