earlier appearance of rice-burner

[Fred Shapiro]

On Sat, 16 Sep 2000, Bernard W. Kane wrote:

> My guru Dr R L Chapman in his New Dictionary of Slang (Harper & Row 1986)
> has
> rice-burner  n  motorcyclists  A motorcycle of Japanese manufacture
>
> probably transf to Japanese autos and in circulation much earlier.

Here's the earliest citation I can find in a few seconds of research:

1982 _Wash. Post_ 9 Mar. (Nexis)  With all those "I'D RATHER PUSH MY
HARLEY THAN DRIVE A RICE BURNER!" Main Street is a Harley-dominated scene.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Public Services     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  and Lecturer in Legal Research            Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu
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