image transcript: caption reads “boys when they’re ricing their arch linux twink pad” over a drawing of the boykisser cat with thigh highs on and a laptop edited in. end transcription.

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11 points

I’m in the comments right now trying to figure out why cheap Japanese cars are in the meme

What’s the other definition?

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12 points
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They’re referring to the term “ricing” that is used in the meme. In the car modding world, “ricing” is used as a pejorative to refer to the tricked out anime-wrapped cars, usually driven by Asian dudes or weebs. If a car is wrapped in anime characters and/or egirls, it has been “riced” and is referred to as a “ricer” It’s… Well… It’s not a polite term.

It comes from the old school rivalry between American muscle cars (which were big and heavy, but had good top speeds so they were popular for drag racing,) and Japanese cars (which tended to favor agility, tight handling, and good acceleration.) At the time, tricked out cars were popular among Japanese car enthusiasts, so the term started getting used by boomers to refer to Japanese people who mod cars. Then younger generations heard it, assumed it was referring to the cars (not the drivers) and it has stuck around as a rude way to refer to heavily modded Asian cars.

It doesn’t hold the same sort of derogatory connotations in the Unix world, largely because most users aren’t even aware of where it comes from. It just refers to a highly customized Unix setup.

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12 points

I don’t know where you got that specific definition, but that’s not it. Ricing is a catch all for doing modifications to a car that look bad (e.g. underglow, flashy spoiler, double rear wheels) and is subjective and changes with time and tastes.

The term you’re thinking of is itasha wraps (痛車, literally “painful car”) which could fall under ricing, but no, whoever told you that’s what that means is wrong.

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6 points

The term “rice burner” as a derogatory term for any East Asian produced vehicle has documentation going back to at least the 60s.

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8 points

I’m slightly confused by your question but I’m still going to try to answer it. Ricing in the meme gets it’s origins from those same cars so there’s not another definition really it’s just expanded it’s grasp.

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2 points

I see! And I’m embarrassed to say I just realized the text is a play on “ThinkPad”

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