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.

  • dragonborn @lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    It has a new meaning now. No one cares and few would bother looking up where it comes from. Languages are dynamic and change all the time. The word faggot meant a stick of wood but now it means something else and few would use it to refer to someone else. This doesn’t mean we should change literature that was written before this change. tl;dr: the meaning has changed and no one cares.

    • NormalC [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      tl;dr: the meaning has changed and no one cares.

      Nobody is asking to change “literature” all were asking is that we develop new and better terminology for this niche that doesn’t also come with racist baggage.

      The word removed meant a stick of wood but now it means something else and few would use it to refer to someone else

      Ooo can you tell the class what that word means now? And what it’s used for? Your example falls flat because this situation and the historical pattern you’re referring to aren’t as comparable as you think they are.

      PSA: racists love words with multiple meanings because it gives them plausible deniability. This is happening right now in this thread. Changing the word “rice” would deal a huge blow to racists as it would show that the unixporn comm will not be beholden to the status quo.

    • Solemn@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      The word has not changed that much in common use (as far as it gets common at all). Ricing your car still has derogatory undertones, and even if you aren’t aware, it still has racist undertones as well if you think about it at all. Just because you aren’t aware if it doesn’t mean the affected people aren’t. If you said ricing in this context around me, I’d assume you’re ignorant at best, and deliberately racist and trying to offend me at worst