I just got up from conversation with a couple of older black men, that I said “well I got to go back to work and start cracking the whip.” And it occurred to me then that it was probably a really insensitive stupid thing to say.

Sadly, it hadn’t occurred to me until it’s already said.

    • Luci@lemmy.ca
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      11 months ago

      Rice rocket was a term used for modified Japanese cars, and ricing your car meant turning it into a rice rocket.

    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I’m a Linux user and love some good rices. But I’ve no idea what “ricing” comes from. Why is it offensive?

      I believe it is racist slang that emerged in the 90s with the advent of cheap japanese and korean cars that were easily customizable (civics, accuras, etc…). Throw a turbo and a loud exhaust, and bam, now its a rice burner. These were prevalent in Asian immigrant communities, but also other places.

      It basically meant like, cheap, but also very fast car, of Asian origin.

      • ArtieShaw@kbin.social
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        11 months ago

        There’s an older form that goes back to at least the 1970s when fuel efficient Japanese cars started to become popular in the US: “Rice burners.”

        There was some made-in-America angst at the time because of the oil crisis, coupled with some quality issues that made these cars more appealing. The phrase was definitely used pejoratively. I can remember my dad muttering about it well into the '80s.

    • reflex@kbin.social
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      11 months ago

      Why is it offensive?

      It would probably be like calling Beemers and Mercedes bratwvrst-mobiles.

    • Eh-I@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I know some people that refer to Japanese motorcycles, mostly “crotch-rockets,” as ricers.

      • Thisfox@sopuli.xyz
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        11 months ago

        The only people I know who say that are in fact Japanese, but I agree it is a racist term.

      • Bob@feddit.nl
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        11 months ago

        Sort of an insult to beans and rice, two of the greatest categories of food, to make slurs of them, too.