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
Some people believe that labelling certain words as dirty because they have prejudicial or offensive connotations in a completely unrelated context is effective activism, passing judgement to feel like they're doing something.
One such word is "ricing". It comes from "rice burner", which is a pejorative term referring to East Asian cars and motorcycles. The modern usage has nothing to do with cars or ethnicity.
On a related note, the word "queer" has a similar history.
I'd also like to point out that Queer has been reclaimed by Queer people. Whereas a bunch of, mostly white, Linux users have "reclaimed" it. But, in the context with my friend today, it was the car modification usage ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Right so that offensive term is fine but this other offensive term is still super bad, actually.
I have absolutely no idea what anything in this post is about but it seems to me like a majority of people who use the term use it because that's what it was called when they were learning about... Whatever it is that it's referring to. Not because they're racist.
I'm a queer person, I get to use that term. As well, collectively, queer people have decided that it's a good umbrella term for our community. If someone decided to use it pejoratively, that still wouldn't be okay.
When referencing cars, it is being used as a pejorative though, so that seems pretty clear cut.
The modern usage has a direct connection to it's historical usage.
Source.
Not that I disagree about using "rice" in this context, but I just want to paraphrase something I think a comedian said but I forget the source now. But basically, no, it's not as bad as "the n-word" and I know that because you censored "the n-word" but didnt censor the word rice.
I still think it's rude and not a particularly good term.
If you look at the source, the person who wrote that is filipino, so the n-word isn't one he gets to use, would be my explanation for that.
what?
Could have used that reply to clarify
Clarify what though?