# New $5 bill **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 21, 2007, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970 "2007-09-21T10:15:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/21 "2007-09-21T14:53:47Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] I am really surprised the B of P and E did not have some sort of contest for new designs. [/quote] That surprises me, too. I’m sure they would have gotten some better designs that the ones they now use. > [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > BTW, have you noticed all the nations that have pretty money are ugly and visa versa? Actually, no. My all-time favourite banknote is the old Netherlands [50-guilder note](http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/cgi-bin/vuImag3.pl?i=119)–very pretty–and I never had the impression that the Netherlands were ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/22 "2007-09-21T14:57:53Z")
It will look a lot nicer once I put my Wheres George stamp on it. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/23 "2007-09-21T15:15:47Z")
Splashes of grey, eh? Really going crazy with the colour schemes there. You’ll have to put sunglasses on before you open your wallet. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/24 "2007-09-21T15:25:23Z")
[QUOTE=Tenebras] Maybe U CAN HAS CHEEZEBURGER would be good, too. Like for foreigners who don’t understand how much money is worth. [/QUOTE] Damn that’s funny. I LOLed in the office, which is bad. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/25 "2007-09-21T15:27:36Z")
> [@](#): > > “We wanted this redesigned bill to scream, ’I am a five. I am a five,”’ Larry Felix, director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing said in an interview with The Associated Press. Yep, that it does. That it does. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/26 "2007-09-21T15:32:42Z")
I think the “5” on the back needs to be even bigger. Perhaps it could extend beyond the actual edges of the bill. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/27 "2007-09-21T16:20:09Z")
That big purple 5 is really out of place on the bill, but at least they’re livening up the colors a bit. Hopefully sometime within the next decade or so, more colors in some sort of coherent pattern will be introduced into the background to make it more interesting; this “pastel color wave” crap looks fugly. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/28 "2007-09-21T16:52:49Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] This is of course just the beginning. First we get used to purple, then they swap Lincoln out for Prince, and the next thing you know all we’ll spend our money on are strippers and poofy shirts. [/QUOTE] What do you mean, “the next thing?” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/29 "2007-09-21T16:54:08Z")
I’m rather resentful you didn’t choose to coordinate your colours with ours. We coordinated our coin sizes, so it seems only fair. That five should be [blue](http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/banknotes/general/character/2001-04_05b.html), not [purple](http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/banknotes/general/character/2001-04_10b.html). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/30 "2007-09-21T17:02:14Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] They could have integrated the Big Purple Number into the design a bit more. [/QUOTE] I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that exact 5 on Sesame Street. He’s done well for himself, hasn’t he? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/31 "2007-09-21T17:11:37Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] They could have integrated the Big Purple Number into the design a bit more. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Max Torque] I think the “5” on the back needs to be even bigger. Perhaps it could extend beyond the actual edges of the bill. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=nashiitashii] That big purple 5 is really out of place on the bill, [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that exact 5 on Sesame Street. He’s done well for himself, hasn’t he? [/QUOTE] Well, that’s kind of the point. It was made big and easy to read (which includes lots of negative space around it) for those with vision impairment. (Y’know, like all those Baby Boomers who’re getting old. Wanna place bets on how far the mandatory ratio of handicapped:regular bathroom stalls is going to change in the next 30 years? The BB’s aging is going to impact all of us in more ways than this.) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/32 "2007-09-21T17:25:48Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Well, that’s kind of the point. It was made big and easy to read (which includes lots of negative space around it) for those with vision impairment. [/QUOTE] You can make it Big and surround it with lots of negative space while still making it similar to the rest of the design. Look at [Canadian](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Canadian_dollar) banknotes, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/33 "2007-09-21T18:02:15Z")
Finally, a bill that looks like real money. [QUOTE=Sunspace] My all-time favourite banknote is the old Netherlands [50-guilder note](http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/cgi-bin/vuImag3.pl?i=119) [/QUOTE] That _is_ pretty. Of course, it looks more like a cheque than a bill, and I feel like after I tear it out of a pad the next one will have a kitten or a duck on it. ---
**Author:** ![stretch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@stretch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stretch)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/34 "2007-09-21T18:19:19Z")
My husband will never forgive them for moving the face to the side…it ruins dollar bill origami. You can’t fold a good bow tie without a face in the middle. Since purple is my favorite color, I should be happy with the new bill, but the giant purple 5 is not in keeping with the rest of the bill. But since it will still spend the same, I’ll use 'em. Thudlow Boink: you crack me up. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/35 "2007-09-21T18:27:54Z")
This Federal Reserve has been **graped** by **The Grapist!** ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/36 "2007-09-21T19:47:48Z")
I’d rather have money with flowers and birdies on it. ---
**Author:** ![Point\_No\_Point](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@Point\_No\_Point](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Point_No_Point)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/37 "2007-09-21T20:00:47Z")
What bugs me most when they make a new bill is the sales clerks that will scan the one you hand over for all the watermarks, etc. What a dolt! Nobody forges the new bills. The old ones are always easier to forge. And then at some point they start scanning old bills for the new watermarks and make fools of themselves calling the manager over. ---
**Author:** ![Tenebras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/38 "2007-09-21T20:01:33Z")
I think it would be cool if the designs on the bills lined up and made bigger patterns. Like, if you had 4 five dollar bills you could arrange them to look like a 20, 5 twenties (or twenty 5’s) would look like a 100, et cetera. It would be like Voltron for money. As for not coordinating with the Canadian bills, they probably thought it would be overkill to have them be the same color. After all, they’re worth the same amount. Why have two blue 5 dollar bill designs when you can have one blue and one purple? Tenebras PS I love my dead gay President Lincoln! ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/39 "2007-09-21T21:10:32Z")
> [@Linked Article](#): > > The $5 bill featuring Civil War President Abraham Lincoln will be livened up with purples and grays. Only in America would people claim you could “liven up” the money by adding grey to it. ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970/40 "2007-09-22T01:11:05Z")
You know, I really think it’s about time we bite the bullet and go to colorized denominations…Except there’s this history of the US dollar being green on the back and black on the front, yet they’re trying to keep with tradition, at the same time. This pastel/green crap? It looks awful. Just let go of the old green and black scheme, or freaking keep it. Canada has some cool notes. American money looks like confederate currency [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-5-bill/419970.md?page=3)