I’ve never liked taking the whole “The west” thing seriously. Predominantly associate referring to “The west” and “western culture” as something wignats and conservatives do, and that kinda tints every other contexts where the phrase/concept comes up.
In terms of geography, My secret weakness is how often I confuse Slovenia and Slovakia, solely because they share most of the letters in their name.
(I also have a similar problem with Armenia and Albania. Within the US, Mississippi and Missouri used to give me a lot of trouble when I was younger, too.)