# Bank of Canada asks Star Trek fans to stop Spocking the $5 bills. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2019, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683 "2019-07-07T21:44:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/1 "2019-07-07T21:44:41Z")
> [@](#): > > The bill features a portrait of Canada’s seventh prime minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Star Trek fans have taken to drawing pointy ears and a Vulcan haircut on the bill, transforming Sir Laurier into Lieutenant Spock. > **[Bank Of Canada Asks "Star Trek" Fans To Stop Drawing Spock On Their $5 Bills](https://www.audacy.com/987thespot/blogs/bank-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-stop-drawing-spock-their-5-bills)** > > Star Trek fans in Canada are having a little too much fun with their $5 bills. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/2 "2019-07-07T21:57:16Z")
There’s a simple solution: Put Spock on the bill instead. 🆒 This article is a good example of why I don’t trust the news. They can’t even get Spock’s rank right. Lieutenant, indeed! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/3 "2019-07-07T22:31:24Z")
But Leonard Nimoy wasn’t Canadian. They’d have to put William Shatner on the bills. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/4 "2019-07-07T23:17:03Z")
Or James Doohan who was also Canadian 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/5 "2019-07-07T23:27:04Z")
I thought Canada switched to plastic bills? Doesn’t ink rub off? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/6 "2019-07-07T23:40:13Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > There’s a simple solution: Put Spock on the bill instead. 🆒 > > This article is a good example of why I don’t trust the news. They can’t even get Spock’s rank right. Lieutenant, indeed! :mad: His rank is lieutenant on _Star Trek: Discovery_, which takes place ten years before TOS. You might want to keep up. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/7 "2019-07-07T23:50:43Z")
I’m betting on a Streisand-like effect where people who never heard of it before start Spocking the bill in greater numbers than those who are dissuaded. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/8 "2019-07-07T23:55:36Z")
This is just hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/9 "2019-07-08T00:04:50Z")
[Snape’s](https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/08/26/spock-canadian-5-bills-snape-photos_n_3818218.html) another one. God, they really freak out over that in Canada? I see scribbling on U.S. money all the freaking time? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/10 "2019-07-08T00:14:57Z")
The OP’s article is from 2013 > [@](#): > > For years, Canadians have enjoyed turning Sir Wilfrid Laurier into Mister Spock and Severus Snape on $5 bills. Sadly, those days are nearly done. > > Using a pen or pencil to illegally, but hilariously, alter the picture of the former prime minister is about to become nearly impossible in November when the Bank of Canada puts the new polymer $5 into circulation. > > The bills were announced in 2011 and the new $100, $50 and $20 bills are already in circulation… ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/11 "2019-07-08T00:20:03Z")
Those Canadian winter nights are long …so very long. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/12 "2019-07-08T00:26:33Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > The OP’s article is from 2013 OK, the date on the article is July 5, 2019, so it must be a reprint. But the comments only date to 2015. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/13 "2019-07-08T00:32:30Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > OK, the date on the article is July 5, 2019, so it must be a reprint. But the comments only date to 2015. [Huffington Post Canada](https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/08/26/spock-canadian-5-bills-snape-photos_n_3818218.html) is the source of the original article. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/14 "2019-07-08T00:33:30Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Those Canadian winter nights are long …so very long. [Here’s a song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfyDs6uXww0) for you. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/15 "2019-07-08T00:44:07Z")
Yes, we have new polymer bills now and don’t Spock them anymore; it was fun for a few years though. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/16 "2019-07-08T00:59:59Z")
Canadians used pens, Americans just use a rubber stamp. > **[Artist takes $20 bill design into his own hands with Harriet Tubman...](https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/27/us/tubman-money-stamp-trnd/index.html)** > > Artist Dano Wall decided not to wait for the Trump administration to honor the Underground Railroad hero. He has created a stamp that can be used to superimpose Tubman's image over President Andrew Jackson's portrait. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/17 "2019-07-08T01:59:35Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > His rank is lieutenant on _Star Trek: Discovery_, which takes place ten years before TOS. You might want to keep up. Sadly, I lost interest in _ **Discovery** _ about two-thirds of the way through the first season. Spock was a lieutenant in “The Cage” as well, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/18 "2019-07-08T02:14:31Z")
Here’s hoping that the two excellent new verbs “Spocking” and “Snapeing” will still be preserved even if the practices that gave rise to them become extinct. In similar news, I know some rubber-stamp carvers who are [facilitating the “Tubmaning” of the US Andrew Jackson $20 bill](https://www.3ders.org/articles/20171014-adafruit-and-hackaday-founders-upgrade-20-dollars-bill-with-3d-printed-harriet-tubman-stamp.html), in protest of the current Administration’s delay of its official redesign. (The 3D-print stampmakers mentioned in the link aren’t the ones I know; there’s a bit of a mini-movement for “Tubmaning” in the stamping community.) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/19 "2019-07-08T06:35:58Z")
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**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683/20 "2019-07-08T07:00:15Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > There’s a simple solution: Put Spock on the bill instead. 🆒 > > This article is a good example of why I don’t trust the news. They can’t even get Spock’s rank right. Lieutenant, indeed! :mad: Even in the original continuity, he must have been a lieutenant at one point in his career, right? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-of-canada-asks-star-trek-fans-to-stop-spocking-the-5-bills/836683.md?page=2)