To this debate, the present authors have recently added the observation (based upon MD simulations using polarizable force fields) that the first-shell hydration structure around soft anions is hardly different at the air/water interface as compared to values computed for the same anions in bulk water . Such similarities had been noted previously for I -(aq) and for SCN -(aq) , and this is notable since iodide and thiocyanate are archetypal examples of ions that perturb the O-H lineshape in VSFG experiments . Our work considered a much larger set of anions , and the close structural similarities that we observe (including both the average number as well as the orientation of the ion-water hydrogen bonds) suggest that the origins of anion-induced changes in the O-H vibrational lineshape must be rather subtle effects on water-water hydrogen bonds, perhaps due to ion-induced changes in local electric fields .