塩対応 (shio taiō)

What it means

1. 1.

   A cold reception: technically polite, emotionally flat. Of an idol who signs an autograph without looking up, or a colleague answering in monosyllables.

2. 2.

   Its opposite is 神対応, the faultlessly warm version.

Literally: Salt treatment.

Examples with translations

• 昨日の店員さん、塩対応だったな。

  That member of staff yesterday was pretty frosty.

• 塩対応なのがむしろいいって人もいる。

  Some people actually prefer the cold-fish routine.

Where it comes from

From idol fandom around 2014, contrasting salt — dry and bare — with 神 ('god'), the exemplary opposite. Salt also carries a Japanese association with purification and with warding off, which the image plays on.

First attested: around 2014

Other forms

Romanised as:

shio taiō