The Wikipedia definition seems to indicate it has origins as a racist term and I’ve never understood why unix users have adopted this terms instead of something benign like “themes” or “theming” which I remember being in use long before I ever heard “rice”. So what gives? Why use “rice” instead of “theme”?
I don’t think it is racist. I feel like we have gone a few steps too far trying to associate everything with race. By the way, “hey here’s my theme I just did for my fresh Arch installation” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. About that origins as a racist term thing, like it or not, it’s now the term for the seeds of Oryza sativa, and there isn’t some alternative way of referring to rice. That means it is now widely accepted as a non-racist term.