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this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2026
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It just means west of Greenwich, chill out.
Yes it's arbitrary, the reasons are more historiographical rather than geographical, but back when the sun never set on the British empire, it seemed as good a line as any to the people making the rules at the time.
There's also no geometric reason why we divide days into 24 hours, but the ancient Egyptians did it so we still do. Why is a week 7 days? Why are there 12 months in a year? Why is a centimeter or a kilogram precisely what it is?
It's all arbitrary, but that doesn't make it any less useful as a standardized concept.
You don't say, smartypants. Your comparisons don't make sense. I didn't complain about the prime meridian, I said that associating the concept of "west" (or east) with a hemisphere is a moronic take.
No, you said whoever came up with the idea was a moron of epic proportions. And your explanation as to why was directly due to the arbitrariness of the prime meridian.
In geospatial terms, anything to the west of the prime meridian has a longitudinal coordinate of n°W, where 0°<n<180°. Anything east of the prime meridian is likewise n°E. Hence, eastern and western hemispheres.
Yes, the western hemisphere is to the east of Fiji. No, that doesn't change anything.
I shouldn't have to break it down into such basic terms for such a smartypants as you, so hopefully this doesn't come as an insult to your intelligence.
Look up Dunning Kruger syndrome - although I suspect it won't lead you to any sudden realizations.
You might as well say that into a mirror, because you're obviously projecting.