Back West

[Mirah]

Here in the US we have a saying, "Back east"
But I cannot recall ever hearing "Back west"

I'll use it in a sentence, "When we back east, we blah blah blah"

If it were on the west side they would say, "Out west"

Can anyone deny or confirm these statements? And is this true in other parts of the world?

 

[Donovan]

Here in the US we have a saying, "Back east"
But I cannot recall ever hearing "Back west"

I'll use it in a sentence, "When we back east, we blah blah blah"

If it were on the west side they would say, "Out west"

Can anyone deny or confirm these statements? And is this true in other parts of the world?

These phrases have their roots in the expansion of this country. Since all the European expansion came from the eastern US originally, when people referred to travelling west they said "Out" to signify they were going outward from the centers of civilization. Conversely, when people who had traveled "out west" and discovered the rough life simply wasn't for them, they returned to their eastern points of origin, or "headed back east."
The terms stuck even though obviously the country is now populated coast to coast and travel is in both directions. Habit...

On a related note, I happened to be watching a PBS world news program centered in Japan from the Nikkei network, and the news lady was talking about all the freaky weather in Asia and Europe recently. Then she said, "Meanwhile, in the Far West..." referring to the North American continent. I had never heard that phrase before but had often wondered if the Japanese considered themselves "far east" like we do. Guess that was my answer.