Can’t believe I had to have this conversation again today, with someone who should know better. You can’t just un-racist a word because it makes you feel bad man.
Edit to add more context:
Rice burner is a pejorative term originally applied to Japanese motorcycles and which later expanded to include Japanese cars or any East Asian-made vehicles. Variations include rice rocket, referring most often to Japanese superbikes, rice machine, rice grinder or simply ricer.
Riced out is an adjective denigrating a badly customized sports car, “usually with oversized or ill-matched exterior appointments”. Rice boy is a US derogatory term for the driver or builder of an import-car hot rod. The terms may disparage cars or car enthusiasts as imposters or wanna-bes, using cheap modifications to imitate the appearance of high performance.
The term is often defined as offensive or racist stereotyping. In some cases, users of the term assert that it is not offensive or racist, or else treat the term as a humorous, mild insult rather than a racial slur.
I’d like you to read this from a guy who’s father is from the Philippines. His mother is American. Then have a good think about it. Actually think about it for a day or so.
Palting: (reenlist forums)
*When you call a car a “ricer”, you are saying that it is not a nice car, possibly even an atrocious car. I don’t believe you will ever hear a statement like “Look at that gorgeous ricer!!” So, in response to the question, is it derogatory, the answer is that the term ricer is most definitely derogatory.
The question then becomes, is it racist? The term “ricer” was coined to denote the cars that were made in Japan or Korea that were subsequently modded and are obnoxious to the observer. You can ask 100 people what car brand comes to mind when you say “ricer” and 100 of them will come up with an Asian brand. Ask those same 100 people what country or race comes to mind, and 100 will say some Asian country. We can safely say that “ricer” would indicate the Asian culture where rice is the staple food. We can define a term racist if the term pertaining to a race or a race’s cultural character is considered derogatory. Therefore, the term ricer is most definitely racist.
If, lets say, one of the African nations built a car, would you call it a “******”? The term “ricer” most definitely belongs in the same category as ******, slant-eyes, gook and what have you. Shame on anyone who uses the term and who does not realise it is very definitely racist.
My mother is from the USA, my father is from the Philippines. I was born and raised in the Philippines. I am a Filipino. I am not a “halfer”, nor “mestizo”, nor anything other than a Filipino national who chose to reside in the US as an American citizen.*
what
what?
It started out as a pejorative (like a cheap car with cheap mods) but has become a positive term associated with customization and a respect for effort involved regardless of financial resources (sometimes cheaper being more impressive).
So uh… Nah I’m gonna keep saying that. You do you.
You can’t just un-racist a word because it makes you feel bad man.
*Taps the sign.*
If, lets say, one of the African nations built a car, would you call it a “******”? The term “ricer” most definitely belongs in the same category as ******, slant-eyes, gook and what have you. Shame on anyone who uses the term and who does not realise it is very definitely racist.
I’ll start calling it a sleeper now.
A sleeper is something else though, sort of the opposite of a ricer. A sleeper Honda Civic would look largely unmodded but be a monster under the hood. A ricer Honda Civic is gonna have a wing and loud, giant exhaust and other very obvious modifications.
Personally I love a heavily modified Japanese car, and in my experience of car culture, “ricer” has largely been reclaimed by the people who drive them.
It’s not their term to reclaim unfortunately.
That’s not really how language and culture work. Some words are going to evolve and change whether you think they’re allowed to or not.
Okay, why don’t you start using the n-word to mean the colour black and see how many friends that gets you sweetie! 😊💜
Okay, why don’t you start using the n-word to mean the colour black and see how many friends that gets you sweetie! 😊💜
Because that’s not really how language and culture work. I don’t get to decide how a word is used any more than you do.
Honestly, that’s a 10/10 idea 🙏
Thank you. I’m Asian and it is honestly a bit maddening when I get white-splained as to why the term isn’t racist towards Asians.
I may be white, but I’m trans and get awful stuff said at/around me too, so I get it. Gotta have solidarity with other minorities and lift each other up! 💪
I agree with the overall message here; there’s definitely better words for customisation of a Window Manager/Desktop Environment.
I can’t agree that everyone using that term is racist though. I doubt that everyone who uses it is doing so to discriminate or abuse another race. As proven by this thread, the history of that word isn’t exactly common knowledge in the spaces people are using it.
“bigot” might be a better term to describe people that know the history of the word and actively refuse to change their ways. It feels like throwing “racist” on here where it doesn’t exactly apply sort of dampens the impact of the word. But that’s just me.
The people that now know the meaning, but are trying to argue that it doesn’t matter, are no longer ignorant, and therefore don’t have an excuse.
Another example of this is that I grew up with the term “gyped” meaning to have been taken advantage of when making a deal. When I learnt that it was a racist term that denigrates Romani/Traveller peoples, I stopped using it. If I’d continued too, then that would have made me racist :)
The people that now know the meaning, but are trying to argue that it doesn’t matter, are no longer ignorant, and therefore don’t have an excuse.
I agree, but you’re meme implies that using the term at all makes you racist
The equivalent of this meme would be someone calling you a racist the very first time you ever used the term “gyped”. You yourself stated you didn’t know that term had racist history, so how could you have been racist?
It’s a different situation when someone has knowledge of history and then goes on to use the term. That’s textbook bigotry and I would agree that’s also racsim, but you’re casting a much wider net with this meme encompassing everyone who uses the term knowledgable or not
You can be part of systemic racism and not know it. It still affects the other person even if you didn’t intend it to.
We live in a society. It’s not a personal failing if you were racist and didn’t know it. But I think it is a responsibility to try and change for the better, just like in all aspects of life.
My friend, it is a meme. The format doesn’t lend well to longform explanation. Why are you choosing to come after me for that, when there are people in this very thread saying that they’ll use it regardless?
Why are you choosing to come after me for that, when there are people in this very thread saying that they’ll use it regardless?
I tried to answer this with my first comment
It feels like throwing “racist” on here where it doesn’t exactly apply sort of dampens the impact of the word. But that’s just me.
I hope I’m not coming off agressive or nothing. I’m not saying what you’re doing is entirely wrong or anything because it benefits everyone to spread knowledge especially for something like this. I really dislike that it’s made normal in Linux circles. But this meme is calling everyone that uses a fairly common term racist while you drop good history lessons on individual comments of people that don’t know better. Maybe there’s a more effective way to get your point across?
I hope I’m not coming off agressive or nothing. I’m not saying what you’re doing is entirely wrong or anything because it benefits everyone to spread knowledge especially for something like this. I really dislike that it’s made normal in Linux circles. But this meme is calling everyone that uses a fairly common term racist while you drop good history lessons on individual comments of people that don’t know better. Maybe there’s a more effective way to get your point across?
That’s fair, I’m sorry if I came across standoffish. This is a meme community though, and a simplified meme wasn’t going to be able to convey that full meaning, which is why I brought it up in the comments. Maybe I shoulda dropped it in the text section but I was just frustrated with my friend and wanted to vent a bit of steam. I can go add some stuff to the post.
there’s definitely better words for customisation of a Window Manager/Desktop Environment.
Any recommendations?
Theming
Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements. That’s what rice has always meant to me, and as far as I know everyone around me. You can rice an American car and you can rice a German car just as much as you can rice a Japanese car.
I think this kind of linguistic prescriptivism is one of many things wrong with modern anti-racism movements. It’s such a non-issue.
The term is often defined as offensive or racist stereotyping. In some cases, users of the term assert that it is not offensive or racist, or else treat the term as a humorous, mild insult rather than a racial slur.
*Taps the sign.*
That is a backronym that was invented to try and coverup the racist origins of the term. Like I’ve said in other comments, why don’t you start using the n-word to mean the colour black and see how many friends that makes you 😊
What’s your preferred term? “Linux desktop customization” is a bit of a mouthful.
That’s the problem. People aren’t going to stop using rice as a verb until some new term exists that’s appropriately specific, and there is no alternative term I’m aware of.
They’re not wrong though. You have to push an attractive alternative.
No, you don’t.
Turn it into an acronym, LUSC (Linux UI and System Customization)
I hope you mean to pronounce it like lush because I absolutely love it.
I’m new to this idea as of this thread, so maybe I’m not understanding the issue correctly, but:
- mog
- style
- furbish
- theme
- vamp
- spruce
- look
- snazz
- attune
- deck
- alter
- finify
- spiff
I hope this list is at least helpful in generating ideas.
As far as I’m aware, blinged out is perfectly acceptables :3Edit: Someone pointed out that this is theft of AAVE, which is a point I hadn’t considered.
That sounds like decorating something with gems and precious metals. Doesn’t make a lot of sense for desktop customization, considering that most linux destop customizers go for a very minimalist look.
Do you have any other ideas? That’s the best I could come up with on the spot.
Oh, I had only ever heard this term in the context of Linux desktop customization. Like in the context of superfluous over the top additions that look pretty but ultimately do not add anything to a system and may to some extent degrade performance.
I dont know why I never connected it with the car scene or with racist attitudes. I’m ashamed to say I think I’ve used the term myself once or twice. Thanks for sharing an explanation of the history of this evidently very racist term, I imagine there are others like myself who have failed to make that connection.
Idk why its so hard to just say “setup”. I’m not sure that a use case this particular warrants its own terminology.
I’m ashamed to say I think I’ve used the term myself once or twice.
It’s okay, you didn’t know then, so didn’t use it intentionally to cause harm.
Calling the term “rice” in connection to focusing on aesthetics over preformance racist just seems insane to me. There are objectly racist uses of the word rice to harm Asians. However when 99% of the community never even correlated this useage of the word to anything derogatory twords asians, and even use it positivly when someone genuinely likes JDM or overbuilt cars, the word stops being racist
You cant claim racist undertones to a word when people don’t corelate that word whatsoever to anything derogatory twords Asians. The modern use of the word spoke about a car that looked like a racecar but didn’t have the preformance of one, making it “ugly”, and then branched to become a positive term when talking about putting lots of efforts into the aesthetic of something
The evolution of the word is not a moral failing but a redirection from a derogatory borderline slur to a word that captures the idea of “looks over preformance”
The term is often defined as offensive or racist stereotyping. In some cases, users of the term assert that it is not offensive or racist, or else treat the term as a humorous, mild insult rather than a racial slur.
*Taps the sign.*
Reading through your responses it seems you really dont give a fuck about actually having discussion. Your view is right and everyone else is wrong, because of the simple fact “racism bad”
Theres no reason to ever redirect a racist phrase into something positive and completely seperated from its racist past, dispite the community at large already doing that. Words cannot change or evolve, and any word with even an inkling of negativity should be banned from ever being spoken (/s). I specifically called out that rice can be used in a racist and as a borderline slur, but that the modern useage of the word is painfully obviously removed from that connotation: considering the massive amount of people under this post also claiming they have never used, or even knew, the word could at all relate to degrading asians.
Oh and since you’ve responded often rejecting opinions just because “its a white person claiming its not racist” let me ask you, how many Japanese people (since the old meaning of the word was specifically targeted at the japanese) do you know take genuine offence to the word? Because funnily enough my Japanese friends in the car scene love calling things riced out
BTW, have you actually asked any of your friends about the term? Because plenty of minorities will just play along with slurs because calling it out is hard and results in *gestures broadly* this sort of response. Just like trans people often won’t call out when they’re deadnamed or misgendered. Or autistic people not calling out when the r-slur is used. It’s kind of pretty common.
Well with how often they use the word freely themselves, I’d assume they like the word. But I did ask and yes they like the word, and were very confused why I needed to ask LMAO
Fair enough. Still doesn’t change that there’s someone in this thread who’d prefer it wasn’t used. Dunno what to tell you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I mean thats the thing with any word. If someone tells you their uncomfortable with the useage of it ill either stop using that word around them or remove myself from the conversarion. However I don’t think its right to ban a word completely that has evolved into a simple meaning of “looks over or at the cost of preformance”
There is literally a person in this thread who says they’re uncomfortable about the usage?
what???
what?
I feel like a lot of people here need to stop taking this information so damn personally. You didn’t know, great, that means you’re not racist. Now you do know. So just… Stop? That’s it. OP wasn’t even a dick about it.
Personally, I’m grateful when I get a heads up that certain terms are racist, so thank you OP!
Thank you! 🙏
I actually extended your PSA over to my Misskey. A great discussion ensued followed by this term and one other being added to the slur list. :P
Hell yeah, nice work! 💜
It’s a racist term, but a lot of people simply don’t know that. How I react depends on their general attitude.
I appreciate the history lesson. I was always really confused by the term, but just accepted it as a silly random easy to remember word.
I’d prefer if it wasn’t hidden in the comments tho. Presenting it this way is very much inviting conflict, considering most people have no clue.
I didn’t mean to hide it, I thought most would know the usage I was referencing. It seems like, even despite the explanations, people are wanting to argue it’s not racist anymore anyway.
My ex was Korean and she used the term rice rocket when I mentioned I wanted a Mitsubishi Lancer because it’s a cool fast Japanese car. Asians aren’t a monolith that all think one term or another should be verboten. Assuming all Asians think the term “rice” is a slur is just arrogance.
Same energy as “this one black person said I can say the n word”.
Same energy as “I’m trying to get credit for declaring a random adjective to be a no-no word.”
Nah, not really, but you do you, alright mate? 😊
Thank you! You too, buddy!
That’s our word
But that’s how I remember to Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate injuries
hewwoo, so uhm what is a more apropriate thing to call my vewy pwetty laptop ui setup?
you can choose between quinoa, couscous, and pasta
What about orzo, the rice-shaped pasta?
As far as I’m aware, blinged out is perfectly acceptables :3Edit: Someone pointed out that this is theft of AAVE, which is a point I hadn’t considered.
a lot of modern American English slang is borrowed from AAVE, using these words isn’t problematic as long as you acknowledge their AAVE origin
