andrew wrote:
> Oddly enough when I was young calling somebody a 'ricer' was a pretty
> appalling term of racial abuse. It was aimed at people of Asian
> background who were presumed to eat a lot of rice, which all those
> years ago was not consumed in large quantities in the average
> non-Asian backgound familes.
>
> But times have changed and now most people eat more rice and now the
> term has shifted to people doing weird stuff with cars :)
The wp article on the term gives a greater historical perspective than
some generations realize, depending on their age group. That background
includes frankly racist usage sometimes favorably, usually
unfavorably/pejoratively.
IMO, the idea that some faction of society can 'usurp' a term and then
declare its very usage forbidden is a form of cancel culture which goes
too far.
There are plenty of terms which should not be used abusively or in
company which might take offense, but that doesn't mean a word is going
to disappear. One person says, "You can't use that word anymore." while
another might say, "You're a big boy (or girl) now' get over it."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_burner
My generation started hearing of 'rice burners' as it applied to
Japanese motorcycles/ street bikes; but that is because my generation
didn't come from the earlier generation who served in the Korean War, in
which the term's usage was both complimentary and 'racist' and a big
improvement over the term 'G Company'.
--
Mike Easter