Rice burner is a pejorative term originally applied to Japanese motorcycles and which later expanded to include Japanese cars or any East Asian-made vehicles. Variations include rice rocket, referring most often to Japanese superbikes, rice machine, rice grinder or simply ricer.
Riced out is an adjective denigrating a badly customized sports compact car, "usually with oversized or ill-matched exterior appointments".Rice boy is a US derogatory term for the driver or builder of an import-car hot rod. The terms may disparage cars or car enthusiasts as imposters or wanna-bes, using cheap modifications to imitate the appearance of high performance.
The term is often defined as offensive or racist stereotyping. In some cases, users of the term assert that it is not offensive or racist, or else treat the term as a humorous, mild insult rather than a racial slur.
Early usage 1917 to 1930s
Examples of "rice burner" used literally, meaning one who burns rice or rice fields, as in stubble burning, date to 1917. In 1935 it appeared in a US newspaper caption in with a racial connotation, disparaging East Asian people.
Korean War early 1950s
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. Comparably, Alaskan slang for a sled dog is "fish burner," as in a beast of burden that runs on fish.
UK 1960s
"Rice-burner" appeared in the British motorcycling magazine The Motor Cycle in 1966 as a generally disparaging term for Japanese motorcycles.
US 1970s
By the 1970s, rice burner was a US English slang term for the Vietnamese people during and after the Vietnam War. It was used in the US by "Detroit loyalists" to disparage more economical Japanese competitors of the US car industry during the 1970s energy crisis. It continued to appear in US publications through the 2002 to as a put-down for Japanese and other Asian cars.
UK 1980s
"The Rice Burner" was a turbocharged Kawasaki Z1000-engined drag-bike, built and raced by North Coventry Kawasaki, a retail motorcycle business in Coventry, England, specializing in turbocharged conversion kits for street and competition machines procured from Jack O'Malley, of Orient Express, New York.
Poser stereotype
T-Mobile's 2005 "Poser Mobile" parody advertisements created a stereotypical caricature "rice burner" or "boy racer" car as perceived by critics of the import scene, along with such cars' ethnically stereotypical Asian and Latino drivers, whose appearance and behavior is comically aspirational and "phony", contrasted with African-Americans and whites whose clothing, speech, and cars are racially-coded as more "authentic". The video, online and point-of-purchase display ad campaign, created by the Publicis agency's Seattle office, was about the "Poser Mobile Posse", including "Big Spenda Lopez", "The Fee Jones", "25 cent Chang" who are weak imitations of both real hip hop performers and a "real" mobile phone provider.
See also
- Ah Beng (Singapore/Malaysia)
- Antonym: sleeper
- Boy racer (UK term)
- Car tuning
- Hoon
- Import scene
- Street racing
- Best, Amy L. (2006), Fast Cars, Cool Rides: The Accelerating World of Youth and Their Cars (Google Books), pp. 80–106, ISBN 9780814799314, retrieved 22 September 2012
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Kinchen, David M. (2 June 2010), "Book Review: 'Big Sid's Vincati': Building a Special Motorcycle Brought Father and Son Together", Huntington News.net, Huntington, West Virginia, archived from the original on 21 February 2013, retrieved 22 September 2012,
He's a master tuner of Vincents, a defunct and legendary British motorcycle brand – bikes that were the fastest production machines before the era of the Hayabusa and other 'rice burner' 'crotch rockets.'
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"Vintage year for a show", Liverpool Echo, Liverpool, England, 21 May 2004, archived from the original (HighBeam) on 18 May 2013, retrieved 22 September 2012,
. Classic owners from all three areas are invited and you don't have to own a rice burner to compete; there are prizes for best British and European as well as best in show and runners up.
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Lowry, Brian (2 June 2004), "The Last Ride.(Movie Review)", Daily Variety, archived from the original (HighBeam) on 18 May 2013, retrieved 22 September 2012,
If nothing else, the cross-generational bonding as they attempt to unravel what happened decades ago provides fertile ground for GTO-friendly dialogue: 'Maybe along the way, you might learn something about real cars,' Ronnie grumbles at one point, referring to Matt's import as a 'rice-burner.'
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Lutey, Tom (15 May 2003), "The right track; Teens' spirits and their engines get a rush at Spokane Raceway Park", The Spokesman-Review, retrieved 22 September 2012,
Moline races a 'rice burner,' the label applied to the tiny import cars mostly from Japan. His 1992, turbo-charged AMC Eagle Talon was manufactured by Mitsubishi.
- McCuistian, Richard (1 January 2009), "Motor Age Garage: Hiding in Plain Sight. Old cars still need fixing, and with the right outlook it can be downright fun", Motor Age, archived from the original on 30 May 2013, retrieved 22 September 2012
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Matras, John (27 July 2004), "From 'rice burner' to golden oldie Early Japanese cars shunned in U.S. become collectors' items", International Herald Tribune, archived from the original (HighBeam) on 18 May 2013, retrieved 22 September 2012,
Looking back at the first Datsun trucks and Toyota sedans to arrive in the United States in the late 1950s, it is easy to see why purists bristled at any suggestion that these ungainly Japanese 'rice burners might be collectible some day.
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Miller, John Mark (13 July 2010), "Schools; family; American cars (letters to the editor)", The Charleston Gazette, archived from the original on 24 May 2013, retrieved 22 September 2012,
Editor: This letter is directed at all those people who just had to buy a Japanese car: Laid off? Hungry? Eat your rice burner!
- Nishioka, Joyce (27 June 2001), "Rice rocket; Inside the import car phenom", AsianWeek, archived from the original on 28 September 2012
- Raab, Scott (1 June 1999), "Diary of a Fat Man", Esquire, retrieved 22 September 2012
- Reavis, Dick (May 1979), "You Are What You Ride; Why you never meet the nicest people on a Harley", Texas Monthly, p. 106
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