In recent days the word miscegenation has been appearing in the columns of The Times, such as those by Robert Crampton & David Aaronovitch
No doubt it is believed to be a neutral, scientific word. And maybe, in the new spirit, it can become that, even a jokey one, like mutt. Even piccaninny - a rather nice sounding word - may make a come back to acceptability
But in fact miscegenation was coined by as a political slur in an anonymously published hoax pamphlet circulated in 1863, which implied that the American Republican party(!) favoured mixed-race relationships
If The Times, & its columnists, understood how hurtful this word can be to those who are personally involved, or who have read many of the supposed scientific papers on the subject, I am sure they would desist
