We're all still mourning the loss of Leonard Nimoy, whose death was announced last Friday. Almost immediately, tributes to the actor who famously originated the role of Spock on Star Trek poured in from everyday Internet users to celebrities to TV shows.
All of them have been touching in their own special way, but none of them may be as unexpected yet still totally amazing as this. Canadians are "Spocking" their $5 banknotes in honor of the late actor's most famous character. What that means is they're turning the picture of Canada's seventh prime minister Sir Wilfred Laurier into Spock. If you take a Sharpie and draw on that slick, black hair and straight-as-a-line eyebrows, the resemblance is pretty uncanny.
Although people have been "Spocking fives" even before Nimoy's death, the trend got some publicity lately thanks to this rallying tweet from The Canadian Resource after the news of Nimoy's death hit.
"Spock" your $5 bills for Leonard Nimoy pic.twitter.com/bKdKyC3l4q
— Design Canada (@The_CDR) February 27, 2015
So what makes the $5 bill so superior for "Spocking," compared to, say, the $50 bill with former Canadian prime minister Sir William Lyon MacKenzie King, you ask? "The existing portraits are quite large and can be improvised with easily and the colour of our $5's are the same blue as Spock's uniform," CDR's publisher Todd Falkowsky told Quartz.
This is such a thing in Canada that there are at least two Facebook groups dedicated to the activity of "Spocking Fives." However, could all of the people that posted images of their "Spoked fives" face potential legal trouble since drawing on these bills is kind of like defacing government property? It turns out, no, according to a statement a Bank of Canada representative sent to Mashable:
"It is not illegal to write or make other markings on bank notes because neither the Bank of Canada Act nor the Criminal Code deals with mutilation or defacement of bank notes. However, there are important reasons why it should not be done.
Writing on a bank note may interfere with the security features and reduces its lifespan. Markings on a note may also prevent it from being accepted in a transaction. Furthermore, the Bank of Canada feels that writing and markings on bank notes are inappropriate as they are a symbol of our country and a source of national pride."
Wow, Canadians really are so nice. May your "Spocking" live long and prosper.
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