Rice burner

Rice burner
Manufacturer Asian, particularly Japanese
Also called Rice machine, rice rocket, rice grinder, or ricer

Rice burner is a pejorative describing Japanese-made—or by extension, Asian-made—motorcycles and automobiles.[1] The term is often defined as offensive or racist stereotyping.[2][3][4] In some cases users of the term assert that it is not offensive or racist,[5][6] or else treat the term as a humorous, mild put-down rather than a racial slur.[7][8][9]

Variations are rice rocket, used mostly but not exclusively for superbike motorcycles from Japan,[10][11] rice machine, rice grinder or simply ricer. The pejorative is often intended to denigrate cars which have been modified cosmetically to give a false impression of high performance, but are not actually capable of it. The accusation behind this is that the car has been customized with the intent to fool people. The term is most often used against East Asian-made vehicles where the population is presumed to subsist on a diet of rice.[4][12]

Contents

Origin

Canadian troops in the Korean War initially referred to the Korean labor and support unit providing their food, water, ammunition and other supplies as "G Company" which was short for the racist slur gook. They quickly became known instead as "rice burners," due to the Canadians' admiration for their Korean support unit's demonstrated strength and stamina in carrying 55 lb (25 kg) loads over rough terrain, sometimes in snow and ice. While dehumanizing the Koreans as machines that ran on rice was a form of contempt, it was condescendingly approved by the men serving at the time as an improvement over the word it replaced.[13] Comparably, Alaskan slang for a sled dog is "fish burner," as in a beast of burden that runs on fish.[14][15]

Rice burner was used by "Detroit loyalists" to disparage more economical Japanese competitors of the US car industry during the 1970s energy crisis.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^
    • McCutcheon, Marc (2003), Roget's super thesaurus (3rd ed.), Writer's Digest Books, p. 378, ISBN 9781582972541, http://books.google.com/?id=nQ268PTS3z0C&pg=PA378 
    • Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry (2007), The concise new Partridge dictionary of slang and unconventional English, Routledge, p. 538, ISBN 9780415212595 
    • McKean, Erin, ed. (2003), The Oxford Essential Dictionary of New Words, Berkely, p. 237, ISBN 0425190978 
    • Dickson, Paul (2006), Slang; The topical dictionary of Americanisms, Walker & Company, p. 41, ISBN 0802715311 
    • Madden, Donna (2007), Sweet Machines & Bike Night Scenes, Lulu.com, p. 26, ISBN 1411697782 
  2. ^ Green, Jonathon (2005), Cassell's Dictionary of Slang (2nd ed.), Sterling Publishing Company, p. 1189, ISBN 9780304366361, http://books.google.com/?id=5GpLcC4a5fAC&pg=PA1189 
  3. ^ Herbst, Philip (1997), The color of words: an encyclopedic dictionary of ethnic bias in the United States, Intercultural Press, p. 199, ISBN 9781877864971, http://books.google.com/?id=UiZQH5gHuggC&pg=PA199 
  4. ^ a b Breitenstein, Jeff; Paiva, Troy (2004), Ultimate Hot Rod Dictionary, MotorBooks/MBI Publishing Company, p. 170, ISBN 9780760318232, http://books.google.com/?id=OtKWmLLiuTgC&pg=PA170 
  5. ^ Meyer, Daniel B. (2003), Life Is a Road, the Soul Is a Motorcycle, iUniverse, pp. 18–19, ISBN 9780595269907, http://books.google.com/?id=of9UPafIVT0C&pg=PA18 
  6. ^ Pierson, Melissa Holbrook (1998), The Perfect Vehicle: What Is It About Motorcycles, W. W. Norton & Company, p. 166, ISBN 0-393-31809-5, http://books.google.com/?id=gX-yd9KpqdQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+perfect+vehcile&q=rice 
  7. ^ Ubinas, Helen (14 March 1999), "Motorcyclists Reclaim Youth With Hog-Wild Week In Florida; [7 Hartford North Final Edition]", The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut): A.1 
  8. ^ "Spinning 'Rice Burners' Into Gold", The New York Times (New York, N.Y.): D.10, 26 July 2004, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/26/automobiles/spinning-rice-burners-into-gold.html, retrieved 2011-05-09 
  9. ^ Heald, Bill (15 June 2003), "Bike Speak ; The Collected Lingo Of The Road Warrior", The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut): 14 
  10. ^ Matebese, Lerato (19 November 2009), "Driving Impression. Putting Godzilla through its paces", Business Day (Johannesburg, South Africa) 
  11. ^ Palladino, D. J. (9–16 April 2009), "Formula Racing", Santa Barbara Independent (Santa Barbara, California) 23 (169): 119 
  12. ^ "You might be a rice rocket jockey if. (Pony Tales).", Mustang Monthly 25 (5): 14, May 2002 
  13. ^ Watson, Brent Byron (2002), "Rice Burners and KATCOMs", Far Eastern tour: the Canadian infantry in Korea, 1950-1953, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, pp. 65–66, ISBN 9780773523722, http://books.google.com/?id=1IDlqGSyvdkC&pg=PA65 
  14. ^ Blevins, Winfred (2001), Dictionary of the American West: over 5,000 terms and expressions from Aarigaa! to Zopilote (2nd ed.), Sasquatch Books, ISBN 9781570613043 
  15. ^ Gumbel, Andrew (27 August 2003), "Wings of desire ; Harley-Davidson, the world's best-known two-wheeled brand, is 100 years old, and celebrating noisily. But is it still the epitome of youthful rebellion - or just a midlife-crisis plaything for the wealthy?", The Independent (London, UK): 2.3, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/wings-of-desire-537162.html, retrieved 2011-05-09 
  16. ^ Krebs, Michelle (19 October 2001), "Aging With Boomers, The Accord Turns 25", The New York Times: F1, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/19/automobiles/aging-with-boomers-the-accord-turns-25.html, retrieved 2011-05-09 

External links