I'm looking for any earlier reference to the term "rice bowl" in the English language. I presume that the term was in the book which the script relied on, so that doesn't count
@edutcher: "Rice bowl" is a term that Trooper likes to throw out there meaning a sinecure or protected job. "Sinecure" is too fancy of a word; "rice bowl" nails it. I'm just wondering how long it's been in the American vernacular. "The Sand Pebbles" is where I heard it.
And I still can't get the video embed to play for me. But the link works so please watch it.
I heard the term "rice bowl" used in relation to Buddhist monasticism - that a monk was limited to a very small number of items, and as a wandering ascetic, was expected to go out and get his rice bowl filled by people who lived near where he was meditating. Dharma, baby!
So if you lost your rice bowl you couldn't collect food. You didn't have much and you really depended on your rice bowl to eat. Kind of like tenure.
I'll never forget that day I decided, hey let's go to washington dc why not in google earth and see what the place is like inside. So I opened sidebar and looked at the options and made it tell me everything that it offers. And how at a certain altitude as Google Earth drops me down the whole place lit up its arrangement of streets and its businesses and residences looks exactly like a science fiction face hugger. Sitting own the face of America. I tested it, up, down, up, down, up, down, yup face hugger.
The whole Northeastern corridor does. It's astonishing having it right there as evidence of the wealth of the nation gravitating to the place that does not actually produce much of anything like a parasite of great wealth living upon it. I shouldn't have went up and down like I did because it give the whole thing pulsating effect, thumpa thumpa thumpa.
It affected me permanently. That one little thing. Then going up and down the streets made it much worse. Information lit up about what I was passing. Lobbyists layered in building close by and radiating out from the city. I began visualizing all those hooks in our federal government. Everybody want a piece of our government. Everybody, and I mean everybody coordinates to set up for having a piece of our government. Lobbies you never heard of. Interest so specialized it's not even funny sometimes several groups in buildings nearby. Embassies all over the place. This pulsating face hugger including its legitimate offices has ten million pulsating remoras attached to it drawing off of it what they can.
Now all this distresses me and I must control my thoughts and emotion. Allow me to help you control yours. I finally got the truck fully loaded and over to Goodwill, not so far at all, so now I'm all caught up with that. A full truck load. And everything in it is good. Because the place is Goodwill not Dumpyourshitwill. I'm going to miss all those great clothes and wonderful things.
No I'm not.
And when I was over there I go, hey, I'm very near that doityourself car spraying place. I can do that. So I sprayed off the truck too. Now it's all back to shiny red.
I first saw that expression in a novel called "The Corps" by WEB Griffin about China Marines. It referred to Chinese coolies who got a job... A rice bowl for various activities. Cooks, cleaners, guards, informers etc. I have used it ever since.
Recall the story line in "The Sand Pebbles." The sailors had grown accustomed to having the coolies do all the day-to-day work. McQueen shows up wanting to run the engine room himself (like his job description) and runs into pretty stiff opposition from the coolies and especially from the "rice bowl republicans."
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I'm having trouble getting the clip to embed. It's non-YouTube. The link works though.
IIRC the term Rice Bowl was used to define the Mekong Delta, like Corn Belt or Wheat Belt in this country.
@edutcher: "Rice bowl" is a term that Trooper likes to throw out there meaning a sinecure or protected job. "Sinecure" is too fancy of a word; "rice bowl" nails it. I'm just wondering how long it's been in the American vernacular. "The Sand Pebbles" is where I heard it.
And I still can't get the video embed to play for me. But the link works so please watch it.
I had Chinese noodles in my bowl tonight.
I heard the term "rice bowl" used in relation to Buddhist monasticism - that a monk was limited to a very small number of items, and as a wandering ascetic, was expected to go out and get his rice bowl filled by people who lived near where he was meditating. Dharma, baby!
So if you lost your rice bowl you couldn't collect food. You didn't have much and you really depended on your rice bowl to eat. Kind of like tenure.
I'm only bringing this up because I think that the Trump vs. Cruz battle in DC itself isn't over ideology but rather "rice bowls."
I'll never forget that day I decided, hey let's go to washington dc why not in google earth and see what the place is like inside. So I opened sidebar and looked at the options and made it tell me everything that it offers. And how at a certain altitude as Google Earth drops me down the whole place lit up its arrangement of streets and its businesses and residences looks exactly like a science fiction face hugger. Sitting own the face of America. I tested it, up, down, up, down, up, down, yup face hugger.
The whole Northeastern corridor does. It's astonishing having it right there as evidence of the wealth of the nation gravitating to the place that does not actually produce much of anything like a parasite of great wealth living upon it. I shouldn't have went up and down like I did because it give the whole thing pulsating effect, thumpa thumpa thumpa.
It affected me permanently. That one little thing. Then going up and down the streets made it much worse. Information lit up about what I was passing. Lobbyists layered in building close by and radiating out from the city. I began visualizing all those hooks in our federal government. Everybody want a piece of our government. Everybody, and I mean everybody coordinates to set up for having a piece of our government. Lobbies you never heard of. Interest so specialized it's not even funny sometimes several groups in buildings nearby. Embassies all over the place. This pulsating face hugger including its legitimate offices has ten million pulsating remoras attached to it drawing off of it what they can.
Now all this distresses me and I must control my thoughts and emotion. Allow me to help you control yours. I finally got the truck fully loaded and over to Goodwill, not so far at all, so now I'm all caught up with that. A full truck load. And everything in it is good. Because the place is Goodwill not Dumpyourshitwill. I'm going to miss all those great clothes and wonderful things.
No I'm not.
And when I was over there I go, hey, I'm very near that doityourself car spraying place. I can do that. So I sprayed off the truck too. Now it's all back to shiny red.
So I'm set for another, what, six months?
Joke. That's change the oil.
See? Already we're back to happy thoughts.
I first saw that expression in a novel called "The Corps" by WEB Griffin about China Marines. It referred to Chinese coolies who got a job... A rice bowl for various activities. Cooks, cleaners, guards, informers etc. I have used it ever since.
It fits perfectly for pundits and consultants who never did an honest job like cleaning.
Recall the story line in "The Sand Pebbles." The sailors had grown accustomed to having the coolies do all the day-to-day work. McQueen shows up wanting to run the engine room himself (like his job description) and runs into pretty stiff opposition from the coolies and especially from the "rice bowl republicans."
I can't express it clearly enough (my curse), but I think this election is exposing what's left of the old American "can-do" spirit and self-reliance.
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