this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2025
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What does ricing mean in this context?
RICE is a post-hoc acronym (backronym) meaning Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancement. Its from car communities.
It used to be a racist term referring to the modification of JDM vehicles, hence the post-hoc change to the definition. Its a word that came into common parlance without folks completely knowing it was racist.
Fun fact! It's still racist.
It also means to break something up into tiny parts for cooking through a ricer. Which can also be applied to ricing your computer by tweaking all the little parts
Customizing the appearance of the desktop, for example with custom themes, widgets that show various stats etc etc
Not just desktop. Basically configuring any program or set of programs for aesthetics.
Ah, thank you! I was thinking like a potato ricer? Making it smooth?
I think its based off customizing cars in japan.
The term also confuses me. What does customising a desktop have to do with rice? Is it like beads to decorate stuff? Maybe "beading" would have a bad interpretation, but rice is just confusing.
Uhmmmm, pretty sure it's worse than that. My understanding of the term is that it comes from cars, where cheaper Asian cars were entering the American market and were called "rice burners" (racistly), and I'm pretty sure from there the concept of decking out a cheap car with spoilers and ground kits and a wild paint job and stuff was called "ricing" because it was a thing in the Asian communities. As in "ricing a car" is "doing what an Asian would do to that car, and you know how they're all about rice"
I'd be happy to be wrong here... but I think that's the history on that word.
Makes sense! So, itβs a pejorative and we probably shouldnβt use it?
I am old enough that the term would make me uncomfortable to use, yeah. Imagine my surprise when all the Linux vids use it.
Im old. It used to be derogatory against imported cars to North America. Rice Racers meant Japanese imports that were modified.
But the meaning or rather the connotation has changed. It now is more related to the cooking term of ricing, where you pass a vegetable through a ricer to break it into rice sized pieces. You rice your PC by tuning all the pieces and making minute tweaks.
As another commentor added the RICE term for cars is now a backcronym of Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements
Your 100% correct. I just point to early Fast and Furious movies.
I believe ricing roots from the derogatory word for Asian mod cars, known as ricers. Customizing or modding them was the deal.
It is an extension/evolution of the idea of ricing cars. Originally it was something like Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements. Basically stuff that makes your car look "racier"/faster, but does nothing for performance.
Edit to add - That is probably backronym to cover up for the mostly racist origination of that term. I can't be sure.
100% a backronym. Ricer came from rice burner, a pejorative term for Asian cars.
But its use has changed a lot in the decades since.
I think this is a bit of a backronym, as it refers more to "import" vehicles from Japan.
I believe it refers to a similar concept in the car modding scene.
It's a racist term people used to refer to Japanese cars that have been "souped up"