this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
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Submit screenshots of all your *NIX desktops, themes, and nifty configurations, or submit anything else that will make themers happy. Maybe a server running on an Amiga, or a Thinkpad signed by Bjarne Stroustrup? Show the world how pretty your computer can be!

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Hey, we should all really stop using racist slang to refer to customozation (hexbear.net)
submitted 1 year ago by blashork@hexbear.net to c/unixporn@lemmy.ml
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Meta post I've decided to make. I enjoyed the unixporn subreddit a lot when I used reddit more. I enjoy customizing my linux de as much as the next nerd.

But you definitely shouldn't use racist slang to refer to the process.

To be clear, I didn't know the origin of the term 'ricing' until fairly recently. I was chattimg with my friend and used it to describe my de setup. They informed me that apparently it's from car customization, and is a pejorative against generally asian men who customize their car to look like a racecar.

After learning this I was sad to realize just how engrained it is in linux de customization culture. I personally have stopped using the term, and I would ask everyone here stop as well.

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[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 50 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In general I don't agree with the sort of broad language policing some people seem to be advocating for here, but this word does seem pretty inseparable from a racist joke. What could rice have to do with computer customization? Even if it's distanced from the original meaning the word itself implies that racist joke. So yeah probably better avoided and replaced.

[–] sanpedropeddler@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What could rice have to do with computer customization?

Nothing, its a completely different meaning of the word rice.

Even if it's distanced from the original meaning the word itself implies that racist joke.

Me and everyone I know didn't know the history of the word at all until now. We didn't think it implied anything, we just assumed it was another stupid nonsensical English word.

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nothing, its a completely different meaning of the word rice.

Apparently it isn't though, or at least wasn't.

We didn’t think it implied anything, we just assumed it was another stupid nonsensical English word.

I guess it would be hard to know what people who don't know might conclude if they think about it. But don't most slang terms have some kind of near-surface etymology? Maybe someone could mistake it for being related to the practice of putting damp electronics in rice somehow. Idk, do you think the people who are opposed to its use are just muckraking?

[–] sanpedropeddler@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago

There are a lot of words and phrases that don't make sense at all in English, so I usually don't question things very much. Maybe I'm the weird one but I've never seen anyone ask about why we use the word rice.

Idk, do you think the people who are opposed to its use are just muckraking?

Idk what muckraking is, but I think those opposed to it are mostly correct in their thinking. I just think that this isn't quite the same as other similar examples. This use of the word rice is so far detached from racism that most people don't even know about the connection. There is no intention of racism, there is no perception of racism. I see no problem.