Meta post I’ve decided to make. I enjoyed the unixporn subreddit a lot when I used reddit more. I enjoy customizing my linux de as much as the next nerd.

But you definitely shouldn’t use racist slang to refer to the process.

To be clear, I didn’t know the origin of the term ‘ricing’ until fairly recently. I was chattimg with my friend and used it to describe my de setup. They informed me that apparently it’s from car customization, and is a pejorative against generally asian men who customize their car to look like a racecar.

After learning this I was sad to realize just how engrained it is in linux de customization culture. I personally have stopped using the term, and I would ask everyone here stop as well.

  • eskimofry
    1110·
    1 year ago

    My Opinion is this:

    1. Racist/Able-ist words were once normal words. Gay used to mean “Happy” (this applies for other words probably, but I am not able to recall at the moment)
    2. Many people had no idea that ricing was a racist slang. They wanted to use it to describe a cool new thing that’s inclusive.
    3. Would you agree that a word whose racist meaning is forgotten and it now referring to something inclusive and cool is a good thing in general?
    • hglmanEnglish
      274·
      1 year ago

      But the origin isn’t gone nor forgotten, this post is saying exactly that.

    • Solemn@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      I would disagree that the racist meaning is forgotten. It’s still very alive in modern car culture, where I’ve also heard this term used far more than in linux communities anyway.

      This term is still offensive to me as a part of the targeted minority. You do not get to dismiss the pain it causes me just because you were ignorant of it until now, and you do not get to tell me that it’s now non offensive just because you want to keep using it.