Talk:north by northeast

Why have you requested an illustration? No other entries for compass points have them so it is unclear what exactly you are asking for. Perhaps you want a compass rose pointing in that direction like one of these:



Or this one might be clearer



but unfortunately that series does not go down to the 22.5º directions. If this entry needs a picture, don't all the others need it as well? Spinning Spark  09:29, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

RFV discussion: March 2016–April 2017
"The compass point between north and northeast."
 * Synonyms: north-northeast


 * This direction does not appear in Boxing the compass, which presents traditional (prescriptive?) terminology for the 32-point compass rose as well as others, including 128.

A related wordreference.com discussion including this: "Thanks, panj, for the link. So wiktionary is wrong then?"

A following post had: "I don't know what the philosophy of Wiktionary is, but most modern dictionaries follow the practice of reporting actual usage, and "north by northeast" does indeed seem to have been used when speaking of the direction between north and northeast, as can be seen in a Google search here, where I have limited the search to books written before 1900."

There are morphologically quite a few possible compass points (and their abbreviated forms) using by (eg, NNW by NW and NNWxNW).

If we can't maintain quality on such definitions by having citations, we shouldn't have them. DCDuring TALK 13:26, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

The fame of the movie North by Northwest suggests to me that, if we can only attest a limited number of these, north by northwest should be one of them. DCDuring TALK 13:32, 8 March 2016 (UTC)


 * east by northeast seems to be the only other entry we have in this form. Keith the Koala (talk) 19:33, 8 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Is west by south missing anything useful? Should anything be dropped? I have added the corresponding images to the 16 standard "by" compass point entries, but not all of the other things. DCDuring TALK 00:30, 9 March 2016 (UTC)


 * I am not sure why we are wasting our time on a usage this common, but I added three cites. Kiwima (talk) 20:03, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
 * What we are looking for attestation of a specific meaning, ie, "north-northeast". Or is it just used to sound like a what a mariner, explorer, etc would say, even though it is not a standard way of referring to any direction. The citations would support the latter more than the former. DCDuring TALK 22:10, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
 * The sentences in the citation don't provide enough context to tell what the meaning is, other than "a direction". DCDuring TALK 22:12, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
 * There are book sources on technical subjects that explicitly define north by northeast as synonymous with NNE.  The term is also used by many other reputable sources that are clearly not just trying to sound nautical, for instance Monthly Weather Review. Spinning Spark  17:29, 29 March 2016 (UTC)


 * The sense is wrong. There are two points between North and Northeast - NxNE and NExN (northeast by north, and north by northeast). This is very old, a 32 point compass (there is also a 128 point compass in which each point gains a "by half" to either direction.) - Amgine/t&middot;e 18:39, 28 August 2016 (UTC)


 * RFV-passed Kiwima (talk) 19:56, 21 April 2017 (UTC)