of course i'll call you by your nationality. my last question there was a hypothetical one. in other words, do you consider southeast asians to also be, in a broader sense east asian and then more specifically southeast asian or is southeast asian totally separate from east asian.

secondly, sometimes terms like "nordic", "mediterranean", "east asian", "middle eastern", "carribbean", "latin" etc are needed in speech. sometimes a person isn't speaking specifically of one single country, but rather people or things from a broader-but-connected-and-related region. i don't see anything wrong with that when it applies. obviously, when i'm talking to or about a specific individual, my goal is to know their nationality. but even then, if i don't know, and the person's not there, then i'd have no problem with someone saying "hey i was talking to Jon the other day? you know, that little mediterranean southern european looking guy there?" or if they're talking to me and they know my fam comes from the south of france and italy and we're talking about a greek person, and they say to me "you southern europeans are so..." that would only make sense because THAT's what we have in common. so i'm sure you understand why i'd want to know which words to use. there are times when a greater region or similar cultural group name is more appropriate than naming one specific country.