Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon <at> gmail.com> writes: > Japanese youngsters doing bizarre mods to cars that produce absolutely > no net gain are indeed the source of the term "ricer". > Yes, it is rude and disparaging but it's also the real root of the > term. There's no need to politically correct it, the origin is what it is.
True, but there is more. Motorcycles have always had a greater HorsePower to weight ratio, hence greater speed than the equivalent (race) car. When the Japs (oh and I being politically incorrect with Japs?) started building motorcycles the easiest thing to do to get noticed was increase the HP and lower the weight, even to the point of instability. These earlier bikes where definitely faster. The Japanese motorcycles where dubbed "rice rockets" way back in the 1970s ...... Before it was applied to cars, if my recollection is correct. So the term Ricer has the meanings that other have expressed, but also, these (kids) ricers change distro to the latest Linux offering, just to be cool (in their minds). Ricers have come and gone from Gentoo (many returned after some maturity and experience was gained)..... hth, James
