Happy Loving Day!

Pop quiz, hotshot! The word "miscegenation" refers to... 

A) A miscarriage common among crustaceans. 

3) The splicing of human and squid DNA. 

U) A genetic condition whereby humans are born with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads. 

%) The mixing of different racial groups. That is -- marrying, cohabiting, having sexual relations and having children with a partner from outside one's racially or ethically defined group (copyright Wikipedia, all rights reserved). 

Now if you're still thinking, I'll give you a hint. It's the one where I quoted Wikipedia. 

Indeed. Miscegenation is originally a Cherokee word meaning "the plot to Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, as well any number of, uh... you know" (NSFW). 

All of which brings us back to Loving Day, celebrated today, which refers not specifically to boom-boom time but rather to the 1967 Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia, which banned anti-miscegenation laws in the remaining 16 states where they were still on the books. 

(not pictured: people happy with this) 

So to all you mixed-race couples out there, Happy Loving Day! Try to forget that at 42 years old, the law that allows you to marry, cohabit and fornicate with someone outside your racial or ethically defined group is younger than the Super Bowl. 

Yikes. 

And if this whole issue just seems like an impossible relic of a troubled time; the product of a virulent bigotry in its final stages that was finally, triumphantly stamped out, I'll just refer you to this.