[simonbarker87]

At the risk of sounding belligerent - Wikipedia seems to include Spain and Portugal in its definition of Western Europe. Perhaps there are formal economic or historic definitions that don’t count them but I think a more colloquial/informal/layperson definition would include them.

[closewith]

We may be reading different Wikipedia articles? None of the definitions suggested by Wikipedia includes the Iberian peninsula: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Europe

> think a more colloquial/informal/layperson definition would include them.

With respect, I think the opposite is true. I think you might just have discovered a personal blindspot.

[thaumasiotes]

> We may be reading different Wikipedia articles? None of the definitions suggested by Wikipedia includes the Iberian peninsula: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Europe

Or maybe he's reading that article and you aren't? The only definitions in that article that don't include Spain and Portugal in Western Europe are the ones in which Eastern Europe and Western Europe fail to cover all of Europe.

And those tend to include Turkey in Europe, which is bizarre.

[closewith]

> The only definitions in that article that don't include Spain and Portugal in Western Europe are the ones in which Eastern Europe and Western Europe fail to cover all of Europe.

Which is all of them in common use?

I'm honestly not sure if you read the article.

Do you have the impression that the terms Western and Eastern Europe cover the entire continent? That is a concept divorced from reality.

Edit: Just read your other comment here. Yes, your idea of Eastern and Western Europe is completely divorced from common usage.

[thaumasiotes]

> Which is all of them in common use?

Well, no, none of those are in common use.

In common usage, Western Europe might be countries that are culturally Western (and in Europe), or countries that are clients of the United States (and in Europe), but neither of those would exclude Spain or Portugal. There's not much difference between the two ideas either.

[closewith]

I appreciate that's what you believe, but you're simply wrong on this one. Ask around your own social circle.

[thaumasiotes]

I mean, here's Time Magazine:

> There’s also a risk that grain yields will be curbed even more across western Europe, particularly in France, Spain and Portugal, according to Paris-based analyst Agritel.

( https://time.com/6187780/summer-heat-wave-europe-2022/ )

Or even more explicitly:

> Meanwhile, xenophobia in Spain is comparatively low compared to the rest of western Europe.

( https://time.com/4904858/jihadism-in-spain-history/ )

Here's the Washington Post:

> A historic and deadly heat wave has been scorching western Europe, killing hundreds in Spain and Portugal.

( https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/07/1... )

This isn't exactly an obscure question. I'm not sure where you got the idea that Spain might not be part of Western Europe, but it wasn't by contact with reality.