If you can have north-west, north-east, south-west, and south-east, than why can t you have north-south and east-west?

It's because they are in the middle and not a directional location.

South-west is a direction halfway between south and west. Et cetera.

But halfway between N and S would be either E or W, no point in calling it "north-south".

You CAN have north-south and east-west. There north - south roads and east -- west roads. But there are some roads that are northwest - southeast roads.

Northwest indicates a direction half way between North and West. On a compass that would be a heading of 315 degrees. Northeast indicates direction half way between North and East. On the compass that would be a heading of 45 degrees.

Northsouth and Eastwest on the map make no sense since they are in opposite directions. Half way between North and South is either East or West. Half way between East and West is either North or South.

The notions of "north-south" and "east-west" as divisions of the navigational compass are clearly nonsensical.

Fully it is: "North; north by east; north north east; north east by north; north east; north east by east; east north east; east by north; east; east by south - and so on all around the compass. Navigators call that process "boxing the compass".

Its so hard to know if kids today are trying to be amusing, or if they just don't get it.

You can point to the northwest since that is a direction from your location.

North-south would be pointing in 2 directions directly opposite each other, so you would be pointing at your feet.

This is the COMMON PRACTICE of a certain language.

In English, it begins with south or north and ends with east or west, i.e. south-east, south-west, north-east and north-west.

In Chinese, inversely, it begins with east or west and ends wit south or north.