Hey thanks for the reply, didn’t notice you were the author, I wasn’t intentionally speaking to you in the 3rd person.

I figured you probably didn’t intend anything racist by the word “ricing”.

And I know that it’s about “overly-customized shitty cars”, going back to the “Gentoo is for ricers” blog. Did you know it’s about Japanese overly-customized shitty cars?

This forum thread seems helpful: https://www.resetera.com/threads/is-the-term-ricer-racist.103962/

Yes, it started to mock Asians that decked out their cars. There was no term for white people, it was meant to put Asians down in the automotive scene due to their early success.

I think it is. I have only heard it used to describe Asians. I couldn’t imagine going up to an Asian and calling him a “ricer”

Oh my god. I haven’t heard that term in over 15 years. People still say Ricer?! And yeah, I always heard it in reference to Asian street racers. So I assumed it was at least a little racist, whether that was playful ribbing or full on go fuck yourself racism, I dunno. I wasn’t really in that scene.

(It also mentions the “Racing Inspired Car Enhancements” theory of the word origin, which I’d never heard, but I agree with folks there that “RICE” is a backronym, i.e. it was invented after the fact, like “RAP” = “rhythm associated poetry”)

More sources:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/linux4noobs/comments/8vcdwb/what_is_ricing/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/j14olc/is_the_word_ricer_racist/