Nubo

Never heard the term "ricey" before finding this forum. Since then I've probably read over a hundred posts that use the term in one of its forms
"rice"
"ricey"
"ricer"
"rice-a-roni"
Okay I made up the last one.
From all accounts it's something you definitely don't want to be (unless you're a "ricer", I guess). But, I really don't know what "it" is. Can someone enlighten me? Preferably using pictures

e.g.

X - this is ricey
Y - this is not ricey

As an afterthought - since ricey-ness exists, presumably there are ricers "out there". Are you a "ricer"? If so, what say you to all of the negative "rice" remarks? Show your ricey pictures and be proud :D

rabinabo

Just check out this page, which will make you understand what rice is:

http://www.riceboypage.com/

mikeb

this is a funny thread
rice is different to everyone
example --fast and furious movie cars

I think they are sweet and others say rice

takahashi

Rice... it is not a personal thing but I think I am pretty rice before... I had a Civic like that then I had a real Integra type R DC2 with no mods as most are rice mods

Now I will be careful to mod the RX8... I won't be rice

But again I think my rx8 gear is pretty rice

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

The expression "rice boy", though it did start out as a derogatory expression about Asian imported vehicles and/or Asian kids that drove them, has come to be an adjective used to delineate tasteful and/or functional modifications to a vehicle from those that are not.
Generally, you will be flirting with "rice" when ever you make an aesthetic choice on a car - especially if it is aftermarket. However, then you are bound only by the confines of taste. The mere fact that it is aesthetic in nature is not, in and of itself, enough to denote the modification as "ricey".
However, modifications that are designed to increase the performance of a vehicle are usually given a pass, especially if they are understated (if not completely undetectable) or executed with a high level of craftsmanship. Hence "ricer" vs. "racer".

Astor

that website is funny (lmao), but that guy has some issues.

Dugless

What would call some dude with a shaved head and buck teeth driving a primered 1971 Nova with Yosemity Sam "Back Off" mudflaps?

White Trash right? Well it's sort of the same thing, just with imports.


BTW, that website is freakin awesome!!!!

Almost as good as www.mulletsgalore.com

Jhouse

sounds a bit racist to me.

Psylence

Yes, if you are *looking* to be offended.

Poor taste is universal, it knows no race!

eccles

Just to toss another 2c into the pot, it was my understanding that the term "rice" was derived not from the nationality of the owners, but from the term "riceburner."

Originally (in Australia at least), a riceburner was anything powered by a rotary engine, and the term was a friendly dig at the fact that the rotary is such a unique powerplant that surely it couldn't possibly burn regular gasoline like your regular piston engine. As the owner of several rotary-powered vehicles over a span of 25 years, I used to hear it all the time.

Eventually, the rotary became less accessible to its original target market of post-adolescent males, and they had to look elsewhere for cheap thrills. Many decided to buy a small four-cylinder - which at the time meant it was probably an import - and add a few go-fast bits. Some actually succeeded in making a silk purse out of a sow's ear; others were happy just to look the part.

As language is a living, breathing, evolving thing, the term "riceburner" moved with the market, and the term came to refer to any hotted-up small car whether imported or domestic, rotary or piston, whether actually hot or just trying to look the part.

Again through the wonders of linguistic evolution, the verb "to rice" has emerged to describe the process of turning a plain-jane grocery getter into something more exotic (in the eyes of the owner), and the practitioners have become known as "riceboys" or "ricers." They can be any race, color or creed - it's their car that makes them worthy of the moniker, not their skin.

Knowing the etymology as I understand it, I have no problem using any of the terms.

wakeech

i think Maniac nailed the modern definition, or at least my personal take on it.

Omicron

Ya know, looking through this http://www.riceboypage.com/ site, I originally got a big chuckle out of it.

Then I got to remembering when I was a kid with my first car or two, and some of the stupid things I did at first.

Looking at it in that light, what these people have done to their cars is kinda sad and touching. Tacky and ugly? In may cases a resounding YES... but still kind of touching that they went to all that effort.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and many of these "ricers" probably look "totally phat!" to their creators and their peers. Not my taste, but tastes differ.

The lesson *I* took out of looking at all those ricers is to be careful with your mods, and make sure whatever you do is tasteful.

Astor

I've heard the term riceburner too, however it was directed at Japanese motorcycles compared to Harley Davidson's.

Psylence

I dunno if anyone has seen this before.. but it is prolly the worst offender of all time!

Click here to see the horror!

rabinabo

LOL...it looks like this guy kept breaking his gauges but never bothered to remove the broken ones once he replaced them

mikeb

This is so true
I posted pics of my civic and almost everyone flamed me and called it rice. However, my civic was put in car shows and featured in a magazine.

jtimbck2

Being put in car shows and featured in a magazine doesn't mean it isn't rice...

There's another hilarious web site with some excellent examples of rice:

http://www.beaterz.com/

mikeb

you are missing the point all together jtimbck2

red_rx8_red_int

If rice is mods that appear to improve performance but don't, then what's ricey about underbody glow, no one expects underglow to add performance, it's purely cosmetic. Or are purely cosmetic mods rice. Let's face it, strakes are purely cosmetic. But no one here is calling them rice. I'm confused??

red_rx8_red_int

Same thing with exhaust finishers. It seems most people like them but they add no performance value, are they rice?

rabinabo

Do we absolutely need to classify everything as rice or nonrice? I don't think anybody is arguing whether a few dealer accesories are rice or not. There's lots on the 8 stock that's just for looks (rotary symbols anyone?). They hint that the car has a rotary engine (which it does right?). What would be rice is a honda with owner concocted rotary symbols everywhere (it would be funny though).

It's synonymous with putting a sock in your underpants or stuffing your bra, projecting something you don't have. Strakes and exhaust finishers don't seem to me to make any claims. Besides, it's all tasteful (imo). Most rice is just bad taste on wheels, which means it's highly subjective, but I'm sure that there's a lot that we can agree on (excessive wings, stickers, etc.). Maybe there should be a Committee on the Assessment of Rice.

eccles

As Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said about "hard-core" pornography in 1964, "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced . . . but I know it when I see it."

rabinabo

That about sums it up, thx

BaronVonBigmeat

I think the space shuttle has fewer guages than that tub-o-crap!

"Rice" is simply a modification which neither makes your car look better nor faster. It's just there for the "HAAAY GUYZ LOOK AT MEEE I IZ A BIGSHOT NOW!" factor. Ugly is perfectly ok to ricers, as long as it makes people look.

The ricers usually respond with something like "oh yeah well the kustom/hot rod/musclecar crowd has (cosmetic mod X)". The difference is simple. Some cosmetic mods improve the looks. Others don't. Rice is the latter.

mikeb

this is not true and you dont know what you are talking about