I’d learned about this last week, and this stuff is a bunch of Wikipedia searches so forgive me if I miss anything :]

Similar to git master and whitelist/blacklist having addressed racist origins, I’ve just learned that “ricing” – i.e. way-far-from-default, colorfully souped-up *nix customizations – came from a derogatory word for Asian “riced out” cars.

(click to enlarge spot where I came to learn about this)

Example in the lemmy.ml/c/linux community.

The linked Wikipedia article doesn’t list *nix ricing specifically, but it’s probably not a far reach – for example, tech’s master-slave came from cars too.

Now I’m not here to start a debate on whether the term itself is bad. The arguments are done to death and predictable (old threadhope I can link here). Rather, I posit that we could probably invent a new term if we forced it hard enough.

For example, 4chan forcibly invented the use of the ok hand for “white power”, as a collective prank (Wikipedia).

Further, Tumblr invented 'then beg' as an insult response to 'I beg your pardon/to differ'. (click to enlarge)

Based on Pukicho.

So why can’t Lemmy invent something too?

Here are some earlier takes. (click to enlarge for source, but they are listed below anyway)

I surmise it has to be (1) somewhat unique and (2) short and nounable/verbable.

  • Customization doesn’t fit – it’s too broad. Changing the wallpaper is a customization – diagonalizing your screen is a rice (term to be replaced…).
  • Bespoke doesn’t fit either. That’s for a duct-tape script you hack together.
  • Pimping out… is not a good alternative. It preexists(citation needed?) and has inertia but it’s not any better.
  • Souping up… doesn’t roll off the tongue so much. But it’s food-related (and thus not far from “rice”). Though I can’t see myself saying “Yo, check out this epic soup.”

Brainstorming welcome :P

  • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
    41·
    22 days ago

    Don’t worry about it, nobody says that any more. It died out with Gentoo.

  • Dessalines@lemmy.ml
    41·
    22 days ago

    I removed this because it has nothing to do with linux specifically, and as expected, it brought out a lot of people defending the use of this historically racist term, and /asablackman’ing it.

    I’ve reinstated it and removed the offending comments for now.

    Also I don’t know why this needs a discussion at all. There’s hundreds of words in english for something that looks good, and you can be more specific about it : snazzy, sleek, cool, streamlined, nifty, retro

    • fl42v@lemmy.ml
      32·
      21 days ago

      removed the offending comments

      In one of which an Asian dude literally says it’s not used as a derogatory anymore. Talk about being offended for others

      • Dessalines@lemmy.ml
        1·
        21 days ago

        An stranger on the internet just gave you license to say a historically racist term, how convenient for you. Next they’ll be some /r/asablackman posters saying its okay for you to use the n-word, because it doesn’t bother them.

        • fl42v@lemmy.ml
          1·
          21 days ago

          Should they’ve included a selfie or an id pic? Because when black ppl use that n-word you’re trying to draw parallels with (which, BTW, is still a derogatory towards a person and has no other meanings, as far as I’m aware) nobody gets offended. And, aside from the use of the “r-word”, their comment was a valid opinion on topic asking for that opinion

    • AntiOutsideAktion@lemmy.mlEnglish
      33·
      21 days ago

      Yeah but it doesn’t affect me and I’m fine with using a racist term because I choose not to think about it. That should make it fine for everyone.

      I’m not racist I’m just so tired of all this anti-racist stuff @john89@lemmy.ca

  • merthyr1831@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    20 days ago

    This will and probably has got a bunch of flak but I’m with you. There’s nothing wrong with recognising when we can pick a better term for something we enjoy.

    Like, I get why people use “-porn” as a suffix and it isn’t offensive to me but I still won’t use that in a workplace. It’d be cool if someone thought of a better neologism!

  • zod000@lemmy.ml
    1·
    21 days ago

    This is a tough one, because to me “ricing” or “riced out” carries additional negative undertones (racism aside). I have always heard it used in a way implying that it was referencing enhancements done in a cheap or gaudy/classless way. Think of the most Razer-like LED adorned gaming PC setup, that could have easily been described as being “riced up”.

    I think the phrase “decked out” works OK, and seems to also lack the negative connotation, which may or not be in line with the goal here.

    Also, seeing your example ideas you shot down, I am not sure you full understand “souping up” phrase. The term “souped up” has been in use for over a century and I still hear people use it pretty frequently. It is generally meant to imply something has been made faster or more powerful, frequently with cars, and probably why some people argue it is a shortened version of supercharged. I agree that it probably isn’t a good fit here, but not being of how it sounds.

  • steeznson@lemmy.world
    1·
    21 days ago

    Is “ricing” not originally related to customised cars from street racing or something? I personally don’t see an issue with it.

    The activity itself is quite good for making people aware of how a desktop linux OS is working but doing it excessively is a bit silly so makes sense for jt to have a silly name.

  • comfy@lemmy.ml
    1·
    21 days ago

    Spice/spiced could work. But it’s still an allusion, not sure if that defeats the point.

    For example, 4chan forcibly invented the use of the ok hand for “white power”, as a collective prank

    Which, outside of specific contexts where you’re already confident someone is a WN, was quickly forgotten and never really took off. It’s not a great example of a social shift.