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
I’m telling you the post explicitly asked about opinions, and the “wrong” ones that used the “r-word” happened to be blocked, and there is a comment from another mod that explicitly tells they’ll remove stuff using that. Although it’s a reasonably short comment that’s easily blocked from view with a medium-sized justice boner, so it’s understandable you’ve missed it.
Although, you’re somewhat right, the meaning of a slur was a bit off in my vocabulary. I’d still argue it isn’t one in context ('cause it neither refers to a person nor is it derogatory in its current form)… However, I’d also like to play along and give you folks another (and, arguably, a more worthy) which hunt target – chinesium. You know, currently a derogatory, currently refers to a particular nation, so…
I’m sure you can find enough examples of the word rice, ricing, and ricer to put two and two together and realise the “r-word” isn’t what got them blocked.
No it doesn’t, because that hasn’t happened.
Are you really not able to put together how transferring a term used to deride body modifications (using ethnic associations) to UI modifications is derogatory? Do you think it magically lost context somewhere along the way, the history of the term just disappearing into the aether?
Stop trying to worm out of this you wretched little shit. Defend using that on the site and you’ll also get your comments removed, but we’re talking about your racism right now.
Allrighty, so here’s the comment: https://lemmy.ml/comment/16077970 Granted, not exactly how I phrased it at times, but the gist still stands.
Citation needed, as they say. I only saw car bodies being modded.
Bold of you to assume I have smth against groups of ppl based on their race because I’m not into your* guilt complex about your* ancestors inventing X phrases and abusing Y groups of ppl.
Not trying to “worm out”, and still stand on the form being inferior to the meaning; just pointing out a commonly used coinword with the exact meaning ppl are looking for, 'cause at this point I’m inclined to see the world freeze.
* not necessarily yours in particular, just an assumption you’re from the US