December 07, 2004

• I think Safire would laugh at me for not being hip with the lingo and stuff, but what does ricey mean? I've definitely heard it used before and rice rocket too, but it's a bit elusive. The galleries of car photos include a Mustang, so I'm thinking ricey is not restricted to Asian brand cars. It would seem that the owners/drivers are unknown and that people spotted ricey cars on the street and took photos of them, so I'm guessing it's not a reference to them or their ethnicity, but I could be wrong. Englighten me, please.
• oops, enlighten. I'm on the path.
• Yeah, cars are cool. I used to race professionaly some time ago. This is what I used to do...
  
• It means, like, the cars are made by orientals, and thus they burn rice to propel the vehicle. Get it? Because they eat rice over there.
• There's also an assumption that these lame cars are owned by lameass oriental gangsters, which is probably false in most cases.
• path: Originally it was a pejorative, usually levelled at pretty much any Asian vehicle (cars, bikes, you name it), especially Japanese hot hatches like the sporty Civics and the like, mostly by racist kunckle draggers who don't understand an engine doesn't have to be a lump of poorly-formed iron. Over time it's evolved: first confined to Japanese cars that are (or have been modified to be) all mouth and no trousers: big spoilers and body kits, but anemic little engines that give indifferent performance; now it seems to be given to any vehicle that's been "hotted up" by adding stuff like whale-tail spoilers, blinkenlights, stickers, go-faster stripes and the like - stuff that does nothing to improve performance, but makes the car look like a retard's version of a real performance car.
• Monkeyfilter: a retard's version of a real performance car.
• Oh, ok. Thanks. I tend to think that cars that look like that are involved in street racing, and have engine modifications. But now I see how that would kind of be like assuming that ladies with nails like Flo Jo could run like her.
• Niiice analogy, PY. I might have to steal that from you.
• I am not endorsing racist terms but: yes every single one of these cars are driven by Asians and that is why they're called that. I live in LA, there are 1000s of them, and I have never seen a non-Asian driving one. As white Americans have historically modified American cars, Asian-Americans tend to modify Asian cars.
• There were a lot of civics around here back in '99.. but nowadays, the only riced-up cars I see are sunfires and cavaliers. Often proclaiming on their side to sport the most unreliable engine Detroit ever produced, the GM twin-cam inline-four.
• Nobody under 40 can afford a mustang around here. So all the frat boys have compact cars or small used pickup trucks.
• Is it ironic when a dude with spikey blue hair is laughing at someone else for displaying personality?
• Whatever you wish to call them, these cars are most certainly deserving of ridicule. I've seen such master strokes as wooden air scoops and R-type decals on Chevy Aveos here in LA. These kids should save the money they spend on body kits and after-market crap and put it towards a down payment on a real car. The most egregious piece in all of this is the addition of a spoiler to a front-wheel drive car, an act which would certainly deflate the myth that all Asians are good at math and science. Although, to be fair, idiots of all races and cultures have been ruining their cars for years.
• Hmmm, the low-slung asian-made stock-engine cars I've driven have kicked hella ass on turns and straightaways. Even without the stupid body mods. (Not getting the joke)
• In France, these people are called 'jackys', for some unknown reason, and they would mod whatever they happen to have really. (click on 'jackymobiles' in 'galerie').
• In France, these people are called 'jackys', for some unknown reason, I am guessing for Jacky Chan, who is apparently very popular in Europe and has been since the early 80s. For many French, he might be the only Chinese or Asian celebrity they know.
• pedantic point: Jacky Chan's surname is pronounced with the vowel sound like the first syllable of "until", not like the first syllable of "anvil". It irks me when I hear broad-accented Americans call him "Jacky Chyaan".
• I was thinking more of Jackie Stewart, who won the F1 championship in 1969, and who had to retire from racing after a bad crash at Le Mans.
• Except that it was his brother who crashed at Le Mans.
• So, I guess the moral is: If you're not rich enough to afford a nice car then you shouldn't attempt to express yourself through customization?
• If he wants to be called Jacky Chun, there are fine letters of the Roman alphabet he can avail himself of to encourage that pronunciation. If you want to be irked, be irked at whoever came up with the relevant transliteration system (IIRC, it's designed for Mandarin so Cantonese pronunciations get screwed up regularly). Being irked at people for pronouncing a word printed in the Roman alphabet as if it were printed in the Roman alphabet is just silly.
• Well said, zany.
• Or, Eckseeny.
• Or, Zee-Nye.
• we don't say retard here, rogerd. we call them by their more acceptable name, "unitard." carry on.
• I remember once Warrior had this beautiful comment in a thread that was simply "YOU ARE RETARTED". classic.
• "MonkeyFilter: You are Retarted"
• "Hotting up' the rice-burners is quite popular here. It's all the local young people, of any descent. I suspect that, since the American cars are no longer lasting until they are affordable and easily customised in a cheaper way, the kids are making do with what they can afford. That, seems to me, the way it has always been. I am a bit more confused by all the imported motorcycles, that are ringers for Harleys. Considering the cost anymore, I don't know why people don't get the real thing.
• Because they want to buy Amercian, and more of a Honda is made in the States than a Harley?
• Is that stick uncomfortable, Nick? I hear you can get them surgically removed. And if "expressing yourself through customisation" means dropping a bunch of money on poorly thought out modifications which reflect poor craftsmanship and a lack of understanding on how cars actually work, then one is indeed a risible spectical. Now, someone who's prepared to, eg, do a budget job on a cheap classic like a series I RX-7 - that gets mad respect.
• ...a cheap classic like a series I RX-7... *shudders* That's one of my favourite things about this season's Top Gear: the photos people sent in of their car mods -- usually ridiculously large exhausts or spoilers that tower over Godzilla.
• You're right about the Harley's, rodgerd. Now that I think about it, my ex diligently replaced every 'made in china' piece with aftermarket parts to make the bike more 'real'. The alternative is to buy one from the early 70's, I guess.
• These cars are indeed laughable, and despite all their mods, not very fast either. I beat one from a stop light to a lane-ending merge (~200 yards) in my full-size pickup truck, much to the disgust of the young puke behind the wheel. And the term "riced-up" is a play on words of the term "souped-up" for American cars (which is a misspelling of "suped-up". i.e. adding a supercharger)
• . . . the most unreliable engine Detroit ever produced, the GM twin-cam inline-four. Guess you don't remember the Chevy Vega. Its engine and some others are here
• toys. fun, though. Not that I would know. *runs, cries*
• A discussion of effective go-faster mods. which I was desperately seeking when this was posted and could I find it noooooo but it has now turned up from underneath the couch. I guess the cat bopped it under there, playing bat the shiny thing around. whatever.
• That explains the dizzyness. /wipes off dust bunnies
• at least they're declawed, right? *nervous grin, offers shinything a coffee and a slice of cheesecake*