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.

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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.

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So why can't Lemmy invent something too?

Here are some earlier takes. (click to enlarge for source, but they are listed below anyway)

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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

  • ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org
    ·
    4 days ago

    Isn't it the same as tuning?

    Although it's unclear what tuning is because it depends on who says it:

    • It does mean doing modifications to a vehicle for actual performance improvements
    • It's used extensively by ricers to describe themselves and their hobby and they think it's a positive term
    • It's used extensively by people who dislike ricing and most definitely as a derogatory term

    Yet for all its faults, I believe that's the closest word to ricing you'll find that is universally understood, neutral and isn't rendered hopelessly bland and meaningless by the process of political correctness newspeak.

    • tuna@discuss.tchncs.de
      ·
      2 days ago

      a different comment was saying ricing has a sense of being overdone. So with this I was thinking of "overtuning." I think it fits more as a hobbyist term than a pragmatic one.