I'd say Seattleites are some of the most arrogant, 
   standoffish, and surface-polite people I've met 
   anywhere in the world.

Could you perhaps expand on this observation? I genuinely find it interesting. This is the sort of thing you don't see measured in those "most-livable cities" indices you see from time to time [1]. Tricky to capture I agree, but doable. It would greatly simplify one's choice when deciding where to build a career.

[1]The 10 most livable cities in the world http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-10-most-livable-cities-...

>>Could you perhaps expand on this observation? I genuinely find it interesting.

Look up "Seattle freeze". It's a real phenomenon sociologists have studied.

Essentially, it's easy to make acquiantences in Seattle, but extremely difficult to make friends. Everyone is polite and friendly on the surface, but any attempt to get to know someone is met with (polite) stonewalling.

Could you list a few other cities which are known for such peculiar mannerisms? I was told Boston has its own stripe of the "Seattle Freeze". I find all of this incredibly interesting. If I could, I'd at least make a quick wiki of these observations. Frankly I think this is one of the elements that would figure prominently when considering places to move to, whether within the U.S. or globally. More so than weather or abundance of restaurants or even neighborhood walk scores!

edit: Earlier, HN didn't let me reply to you perhaps due to some time threshold I'm not aware of. So replied to myself. Deleted that post now.

It looks like Wikipedia beat you to it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_nice (and pointers within).

see: Frasier.