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Q: What is this 'West' thing anyway?
A proviso: I'm guilty of using the terms 'West' and 'Western' in discussing life in the 'East' too, this isn't a diatribe against familiar language.
To the point:
People use the above mentioned terms very regularly; that or 'back home,' meaning the same. I just wonder what we all mean by it. The 'West,' as far as I am concerned, doesn't exist as a culturally unified, ethnic or linguistic entity. Neither does the 'East'. So, what are we actually saying in using these loaded, essentially vacuous terms.
The West originally referred to the Roman Catholic world, and later the mixed Protestant/Catholic world. It was traditionally contrasted with Eastern Orthodox Europe - which developed on quite a different path from the west of Europe during the middle ages. Later it was extended to mean Asia.
Typically western countries are ones that traditionally used Latin as a literary language, and have been heavily influenced by Latinatetraditions, as well as being part of the Latin-Influenced Western European sprachbund. Likewise, most of these countries have political institutions that can be traced back to the carolignian empire (England via William the conqueror's many reforms, which brought the kingdom more in line with continental Europe). It also serves as a way of translating the Chinese term 欧美, which is used often.
yian:
Thanks for the reply. But I was aiming for something a little less historical and more psychological. I feel that many expats use these terms in a culturally superior (even racist) way. For example, I hear peole use 'west' and 'western' as code for 'not stupid'.
