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.
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.
So why can't Lemmy invent something too?
Here are some earlier takes. (click to enlarge for source, but they are listed below anyway)
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
Are you telling me that you have so little understanding of slurs and their use that you think people are getting banned for saying using the word rice? You cannot be serious. How dare you think you have the intelligence to hold an opinion.
I know what you're arguing you fucking dunce, I just told you you're wrong. There are plenty of slurs that aren't as bad as the n-word, you're not allowed to use any of them. And b) doesn't matter. You don't use the n-word even if a black person "gives you permission", because that makes you a fucking racist.
I'm telling you the post explicitly asked about opinions, and the "wrong" ones that used the "r-word" happened to be blocked, and there is a comment from another mod that explicitly tells they'll remove stuff using that. Although it's a reasonably short comment that's easily blocked from view with a medium-sized justice boner, so it's understandable you've missed it.
Although, you're somewhat right, the meaning of a slur was a bit off in my vocabulary. I'd still argue it isn't one in context ('cause it neither refers to a person nor is it derogatory in its current form)... However, I'd also like to play along and give you folks another (and, arguably, a more worthy) which hunt target -- chinesium. You know, currently a derogatory, currently refers to a particular nation, so...