half-caste-hybrid-two way

Are we sure about how these words come into our language use? How we adapt to or adopt them as part of our way of describing our world? I am not sure what we are saying when we use these terms - not that half-caste is in use anymore - well not in my circles. I was sent an article by Robert Fisk an international journalist who calls to account the way journalists have adopted old phrases for new situations which confuse the reality we are communicating. Here is the link.
Be interested in any responses. Take it easy.
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/05/201052574726865274.html