JustHereForCookies17 t1_j2eesue wrote on December 31, 2022 at 5:26 PM

Reply to comment by paulHarkonen in Driver hits 2 women near White House, killing 1 by MrSpontaneous

A cursory Google search explains that "rice" is an acronym for "Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements", wherein Race is defined as a competitive motorsport rather than a demographic descriptor.

I didn't know where the term came from before I read your comment, hence my Google search. I was fully ready to strike the term from my vocabulary as I could absolutely see it having derogatory origins, just like the terms "peanut gallery" or "gypped".

paulHarkonen t1_j2egvvw wrote on December 31, 2022 at 5:40 PM

I have never heard the term applied to a vehicle made by western manufacturers. No one would call a modified mustang "riced out". The term originates from back in the 70's when cars from Asian (mostly Japanese) manufacturers were derogatorily referred to as "rice burners".

Urban dictionary (and a few others) suggests that the acronym was developed after the fact by people uncomfortable with the racist origins of the term looking to justify it's continued use. At least there seems to be some awareness of how racist the term is/was but we can do better than coming up with an excuse and just use different words to describe "a car heavily modified with stupid cosmetics that look fancy but provide no performance benefits".

JustHereForCookies17 t1_j2en0ts wrote on December 31, 2022 at 6:21 PM

Totally fair. I've heard people use it to describe Mustangs, Camaros, and even BMW's, but that's obviously anecdotal on my part. Also, that was back in the mid-2000's, so I can absolutely see how the term may have been retconned in an attempt to cover-up its racist roots.