# Stamped message on dollar bill
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stamped-message-on-dollar-bill/300396
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 21, 2005, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stamped-message-on-dollar-bill/300396 "2005-04-21T12:55:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2005, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stamped-message-on-dollar-bill/300396/1 "2005-04-21T12:55:28Z")
Sometime last week I received a dollar bill with a rubber stamped message and wondered what it was about.
The word “PLEASURE” is stamped on the reverse side in letters about an inch high, with “R-U-A-S-L-E-E-P” printed in smaller letters on top of it. The text “In God We Trust” is highlighted yellow.
I Googled “R-U-A-S-L-E-E-P” both with & without the dashes & found nothing. I googled “messages on money” and found [an interesting site](http://www.cruelty.com/money/) or [two](http://www.johnnyburrito.com/uglymoney.htm) , but no matches there either.
Any idea what this message might refer to?
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### Author:  [@FandJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FandJ)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2005, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stamped-message-on-dollar-bill/300396/2 "2005-04-21T13:06:16Z")
Try this - Are you asleep?
And the letters ‘p-l-e-a-s-u-r-e’ can be rearranged into ‘r-u-a-s-l-e-e-p’.
I suspect it’s just a goofy anagram.
fandj
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### Author:  [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2005, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stamped-message-on-dollar-bill/300396/3 "2005-04-21T13:24:45Z")
Well, the “Are you asleep?” message backwards is PEELSAUR, which might look like ‘pleasure’ if you were insane. (So the author might think that ‘pleasure’ backwards is ‘are you asleep?’) The highlighted ‘In God We Trust’ is probably also significant. Many dollar bills are stamped to obliterate the ‘In God We Trust’ message, which some see as a violation of church-state separation. But this one seems to emphasize it. I tried more Googling and couldn’t find anything, so it’s probably a one-off stamp by someone who didn’t bother to put up a website. My theory is that the stamper believes that Americans are obsessed with pleasure and need to ‘wake up’ and return to religious morality. But that’s theory, not fact. =)
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### Author:  [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2005, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stamped-message-on-dollar-bill/300396/4 "2005-04-21T13:26:43Z")
Oh, yeah, an anagram. Whenever I see messages like that, I read them backwards, but I’m not good at finding anagrams. I think I’ve even seen that one before. But the highlighted ‘In God We Trust’ must mean something (and I think it’s something pro-religion, because most anti-religion modifications of dollar bills change ‘God’ to something else or obscure the message). OTOH, it’s possible that it’s a post-stamping modification.
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### Author:  [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2005, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stamped-message-on-dollar-bill/300396/5 "2005-04-21T13:31:55Z")
A slight aside, but one related to the links in the OP, I have a bill that I once recieved as payment while working retail in the mid '90s that has a big pot leaf over George Washington’s head with “Legalize it” written over it.
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### Author:  [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2005, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stamped-message-on-dollar-bill/300396/6 "2005-04-21T14:13:34Z")
Maybe there’s an answer over on [Where’s George?](http://www.WHERESGEORGE.com) Enter the serial number over there and tell us what you find (if anything).
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### Author:  [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stamped-message-on-dollar-bill/300396/7 "2005-04-21T16:02:32Z")
**stpauler** - I entered it on Where’s George (I didn’t think to look there before) but it hadn’t been listed.
I’d guessed at some sort of philisophical/religious reference before, so thanks to
**FanJ** and **Roches** - I googled “Are You Asleep?” and [this religious article](http://www.biblebb.com/files/ryle/are_you_asleep.htm) was the top match.
Best guess - a J.C. Ryle fan is defacing dollar bills. 🙂