"West Sea"

[Laurence Horn]

On Apr 29, 2014, at 12:16 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> CNN now calls what was once the "Yellow Sea," the "West Sea."
>
> Is "Yellow Sea" now considered offensive?
>
> Acc. to Wikipedia, the name (translated from Korean) comes from the golden
> tint of the waters, which is imparted by the down-flowing sands of the Gobi
> Desert.
>
> "West Sea," of course, is blatantly ethnocentric. The area may be west of
> Korea, but it is equally east of China. That makes it part of the
> ethnocentric "East China Sea." Is it west or is it east? Up or down?
> Someone must decide.
>
> And while they're at it, there's the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the
> transparently imperialist White Sea.
>
Not to mention the Dearly Departed Sea (or is it the Late Sea?), formerly known as Dead.

LH

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