[opello]

> The West only makes sense in the Northern Hemisphere.

It doesn't even make sense there. It's not really a logical group of things that are geographically West of anything. The abstract cultural idea of "Western Civilization" or "the West" are poorly named.

[mc32]

It does make sense when you realize it’s a legacy term. Lots of things are legacies from the past.

[opello]

I do realize it's a legacy term. A legacy from the 1500s if not from earlier during the split of the Roman Empire into Greek-East and Latin-West. A legacy that predates Modern English as a language. A legacy the use of which makes no geographic sense with a line at around 22°E Longitude in Europe and then including parts of North America, Australia, and New Zealand all of which would not have been included as having representative cultures at the time of the establishment of the term. But sure, I guess a more descriptive, representative, relevant term isn't something to reasonably call out as nonsense.

Being a product of history, a legacy, is not a shortcut to sensible. It's an explanation for why the term is used. My complaint was that it does not even "make sense" in the context of the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth.