The Wikipedia definition seems to indicate it has origins as a racist term and I’ve never understood why unix users have adopted this terms instead of something benign like “themes” or “theming” which I remember being in use long before I ever heard “rice”. So what gives? Why use “rice” instead of “theme”?
I personally don’t see it as racist in the context it’s used (to me, context and how something is used is everything), then again, when I first heard the term a few years back, it was in the context of an acronym: Racing Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements. Nothing racist about that, I mean…I see several cars owners, racing or otherwise, tricking their rides up with spoilers or annoying loud exhausts all the time. All ethnicities, not just strictly asian. It might have come from a racist thing*, and if it did, that doesn’t mean that that’s what has to define it for all time.
I also agree with tables; you can’t exactly choose a “nicer” alternative for something everytime a couple of people get offended by a word. It’s just not feasible, IMO. IDK, I was raised with the mindset of: There’s going to be people in life that are going to take offense to something you do or say even if you didn’t mean to offend in the slightest.
*it could have, but I’m not entirely sure personally. I checked out the wiki article you linked, and find it odd that when originally looked up the term RICE on wikipedia, there was no racist conotations at all (and i know this because i often used to refer to that article when i explained what the acronym meant to others), or if there were, it was a footnote, but now it’s front and center. Not saying you’re wrong and this is some revisionist piece at all, just noticing that, is all. Like I said, this very well could be the original meaning.