Europe introduces new Banknotes | Hacker News Reader

Europe introduces new Banknotes

new-euro-banknotes.eu

53 pointsFredericJ84 comments

I'm still trying to figure out whether the new watermark on the new banknotes is some kind of sick joke, a big 'f*ck you' to euro-sceptics, or simply a screw-up and testament to the lack of historical knowledge of the people who designed the notes.

For those of you who don't know what I'm getting at: the watermark on the new notes is Europe, the woman who -according to Greek mythology- was seduced by Zeus to ravish her, while he was disguised as a beautiful white bull. The bull abducted her while she was riding its back, into the sea, to the beaches of Crete (Greece), where he showed his true identity.

You don't need a whole lot of imagination to find an analogy between this story and what is going on with Greece and the Euro right now.

I think you should sit down, take a drink and rethink what's important here in life. If anything, it's the other way around.

And if it is indeed on purpose, like you seem to think, then kudos - at least ECB has a sense of humour.

Greece can go find their own way, if that's what they want. Nobody is forcing them to do anything.

Great advice, you should take it yourself ;-)

Will do!

That comment is wrong on so many levels.

Europe (the woman) is often used to refer to Europe (the continent) in caricatures and paintings. I'd say neither of your interpretations is the real reason, though they're both amusing.

Ancient Greece is commonly viewed as the cradle of democracy and generally looked up to, it's a heritage that Europe is proud of and likes to display.

People generally recognize that this is not a tribute to modern day Greek politics.

I'm aware of that, so I can understand where the idea to put Europe in the watermark is coming from. That said, with everything that is going on, it's at least a little insensitive to have a symbol from Greek mythology on your bank notes, that relates a story that almost seems too coincidentally analogous to how a lot of Europeans feel about the Euro, the ongoing integration of Europe at the expense of national sovereignty, and the Greek bailouts.

A lot of Europeans feel tricked into accepting a common currency that now appears to be used as an instrument to railroad through measures that promote European integration, is leading to austerity, higher taxes, higher unemployment, and less national sovereignty. Whether or not this feeling is justified is not relevant, that's how many feel about it over here right now.

One thing worth mentioning in this context is that the images of buildings and bridges on the notes were specifically chosen to be imaginary, instead of depicting real buildings from European countries. The rationale for this choice was that the Euro was the common currency of all Eurozone countries, and putting e.g. the Eiffel tower or the Colosseum on them might send the wrong message to people living in countries that did not have any national monuments depicted on Euro notes. Still, somehow nobody thought anyone could ever get any wrong ideas if they put the mythological Europe in the watermark, which I personally find pretty strange.

Personally, I find this interpretation totally ludicrous. People who think like that will find a reason to be offended, no matter what you do, and are thus not worth paying any attention to.

It's not about people being offended, but about making sure the notes are as neutral as possible, because they are used by Europeans in 17 different countries. Hence the imaginary buildings on the notes, instead of real national monuments.

It doesn't matter if the interpretation of the watermark is ludicrous or absurd, the fact is that they had a million options for the watermark that nobody would ever take note of, but they chose the mythological Europe, opening the door for euro-sceptics to mock the notes, the Euro and the EU. I'm not talking hypothetically here, the extreme right-wing leader of one of our most euro-phobic political parties has already twittered about this watermark. I think it is safe to assume this only fuels Euro-hate of his (non-insignificant) electorate even further.

If Europe can't take pride and realize the inherent European nature of all of its monuments, languages and people, maybe you guys shouldn't exist as a union.

Yeah, well, maybe you're right ;-)

As I wrote: a non-issue not worth paying attention to. That guy would have found something to mock and hate completely independant of what was chosen, and absolutely nothing any EU institution does will ever change that.

If you are interested in symbolism the EU Parliament "Tower of Babel" connection is a worth looking into.

That's simply the story of how the continent got its name: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(mythology)#The_continen...

I doubt any of the symbolism of your interpretation was intended.

Wow, that's a confusing website. Showing the old banknote designs all over the new banknote site is a bad choice.

Does anyone just have a link to what the new 5 euro looks like?

It hasn't been revealed yet. Which is sort of the point.

There's a good comparison of the old and new note side-by-side here http://www.new-euro-banknotes.eu/Euro-banknotes/Compare/Comp...

it's funny how they messed up the reflection on the back side of the 5€ bill (try adjusting the slider).

Which language has EURO as EBPO? Must be one of the new ones.

Bulgarian, as they use Cyrillic alphabet.

Just fast forwarded my clock for 1 hour & I was able to already watch the video.

Worked for me as well.

And here I was looking through the source for some JS to fiddle with :p

Actually, open the console and call injectVideo()

Voilá!

EDIT: However, the video that pops up does not show the actual notes...nor anything that cannot be seen elsewhere on the website.

Direct link to video:

http://www.contentforce.de/iptv/swf/xflv/showIt3.swf?plugin_...

But it said it was LIVE!

No no no, you didn't just question the trustworthiness of information put forward by the ECB, did you?

Domain name is weird. Why isn't this on something that could plausibly be considered an official EU site?

This is the European Central Bank press release: http://www.ecb.int/press/pr/date/2012/html/pr121108_1.en.htm...

and this

http://www.ecb.int/euro/banknotes/europa/html/index.en.html

Linking to

http://www.new-euro-banknotes.eu/

Frustrating that you need to open two browser windows if you want to compare bills side by side, since it reverts to the front side when you flip between new and old.

As the bill itself, I could see myself missing the 5's in the corners. That's standard for pretty much every currency everywhere for a reason. It lets you quickly figure out what you're looking for, even rifling a wallet or when it's folded.

I guess they figure the giant "5!!!" covering half the bill will do the trick, but folded into my money clip, I only get half a number (obscured behind the clip itself) or no number at all, depending on which side I happen to be looking at.

Incidentally, I've been on Euros & Pounds for half a decade now, and I wouldn't be able to tell you what bill is what color, so having a big empty blueish-grey sheet of paper pointing at me wouldn't help either. My only hope in the moneyclip scenario would be to have other denominations side-by-side so I could do a size comparison.

Do you need to see the 5 to know is a 5 Euro note? I mean, it's different in color and size from the other Euro notes, which to me makes the difference more than the printed number...

Interesting, but just to get this part over with: EMU != EU != Europe.

Eurozone != Europe

America != USA.

But yet we all know what people mean because of the context.

The Eurozone is only 17 countries out of Europe's 50 countries. We're talking a combined population that's less than half of Europe's total population. So no, I don't think it's a fair comparison.

When you saw the headline did you honestly believe that these new banknotes were going to become the currency for all of Europe, and not the set of countries that actually shares a currency?

Here's a link to a video stream (Open in Quicktime) http://c14098-l.z.core.cdn.streamfarm.net/017ecbiphonelive/s...

thanks, working better than the website

I'm hoping they will be plastic, although it doesn't seem likely. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer_banknote)

I hope not. Coming from a country with plastic notes, euros are a blessing.

Plastic is, well, plastic. If you deform it, which is very easy, it will stay that way forever. You can't straighten it up. Notes don't stack together nicely anymore, because each note shows a different pattern of wear and tear.

Notes are supposed to be durable, but are extremely easy to chip on a side, and when that happens, they simply split in two. This usually happens with larger notes. When I get money from the ATM, 10% of the notes are chipped on a side and I have to use scotch tape to fix them.

Best note material is what dollars use.

Plastic notes stacks are also much harder to count fast, they don't stick to your fingers, instead they stick together. If they are even slightly wet the problem is exacerbated.

I think the kind of paper used in the SEK is even better than the one used in the USD. Compared to Swedish notes most currencies I have used have felt tacky. The USD is ok though.

We're using plastic money in Romania for more than 10 years, and I honestly haven't seen a single case of your problem with chipped sides. Maybe there are different technologies available?

I come from Romania, I used to get my money from ING ATMs.

Never seen these problems with Australian notes either, if anything they seem much more durable than paper notes. And you can take them to the beach.

They come into their own in countries with beaches.

In Thailand, I keep my money roll in the pocket of my board shorts and don't bother trying to stash it anywhere when swimming lest the pineapple lady swipe it from under my flip flops. Paying for lunch later on consists of either trying to dry a bunch of sodden bills in the sun or praising my luck for having a couple (plastic) 50 baht notes that I can give a quick wipe and hand across.

I would have liked that as well, don't know what 4ad's experience was but I almost never had any problem with the plastic money. The bills are waterproof, very hard to tear and much more resistant in my opinion.

Here it is: https://twitter.com/bartkappenburg/status/289398165185105920...

I waited for 3 full minutes for the countdown to finish and all I get is a black popup with "Live - iPhone" at the bottom.

Not sure if this is the dramatic ending of the euro, or just a technical problem ...

I hope they still use Europium as an anti-counterfeiting phosphor:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europium

Also working, change the minutes in 01 with firebug and wait for 1 min, then video will start.

timer has just ticked over and it's not working. a shame really, was quite interested to see what they had done.

Why are French people always unwilling to speak English?

The video is in France, with a French citizen, why should they?

Lets go to the SFMoMA and tell the staff to go on camera and speak in Italian because [insert unsubstantiated claim].

For the same reason everybody who wasn't French in that video used English - it's the international language of business. Also because most educated French people can speak it just fine, they just refuse to.

Many French people I've met are very unconfident about their spoken English, so prefer to avoid it if possible. Reading and writing is fine, but they worry that nobody will be able to understand their speech, or that they'll make an embarrassing gaffe.

Indeed. We are very aware of our flaws and almost ashamed of our french accent. Some know it may be an asset elsewhere (especially cause some people find it charming), but the whole rest prefer to avoid it.

I don't think it's intentionally targeted at the English, kind of like a revenge for some Napoleonian shenanigan or whatever. Just damn aware that we speak badly.

They are usually right, unfortunately

And their accent still shows (like a sore thumb) even when their English is good. Same for English speaking people speaking French.

(Except Canadians, I think their French accent is a kind of 'impedance matching')

I think I saw a couple of French people with very good English and almost no accent though.

This is not about business, this is about introducing a bank note to the citizens of the Eurozone, of which 65 million are French.

The EU has linguistic rights and to say "they refuse to" speak English is taking away their rights and protection.

Maybe they still have hope of French taking this role back. Though personally I'd bet on German before French.

> No English speaking country is in the Euro

Except Ireland.

Indeed, my bad. Edited

Ireland and Malta use the euro.

I think the video is in Frankfurt. Last time I checked, it was on Germany. ;-)

The Louvre Museum in Frankfurt? Are you serious?

It's not the Louvre, it's the Frankfurt Archaeological Museum http://www.ecb.int/euro/banknotes/europa/html/index.en.html

Please watch the video. The reference to "French" in this thread refers to Anne Coulié, Curator of Greek ceramics of the Musée du Louvre, 41 seconds into the video.

Because we are utterly bad at it. Aside the (deserved) reputation to be prompt to go on strike, the (unfair) reputation that we don't take bath on a daily basis, we also have the reputation to suck at speaking foreign languages. (I'm sure you can tell I'm French.)

The only way I knew you were French is that you're saying 'we'. Your English is fine. As is the English of nearly every French person who I've coaxed into speaking it with me.

I had to visit a hospital in France and even my doctor refused to speak English! I know she was fluent or close to it because she would nod yes or no when I asked complicated questions with big words, but she wouldn't utter a single word.

Why this is, I don't understand, but lack of skill is not the problem. You're all taught English in school, right?

But understanding a language, even understanding complicated sentences is very different from speaking it.

You have hit a sensible chord: yes we are taught English in school, oftentimes starting very young.

However, our children are also very good at pointing fingers at others: should one make a little mistake or have a decidedly french-sounding accent, she is instantly laughed at and pointed at. We learn very quick to be embarrassed and seldom use spoken English as a result.

Here's a "trick" when dealing with speakers that lack confidence in your preferred language: Try to speak their own language. Badly.

I have French people falling over themselves to speak English to me after trying to speak French to them.

It works elsewhere too. It often only takes a few halting words to get someone to accept that their own language skills are just as good or better, and want to meet you halfway, or switch fully to English.

I think it pisses them off that english is now the lingua franca.

yeah, they are certainly pissed they can talk in their native tongue when they're on vacation in one of their many post-colonies where there is sun all year long, and you feel like an idiot because nobody speaks english.

when you say 'lingua franca' you should follow it with 'of the....'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lingua_francas#French

As a French, living in Germany after a couple of years in Denmark and in the US, I really enjoy diversity of languages to express opinions and ideas. English, as spoken and understood by most of the people is a very limited language, it is way better in such cases to speak your native language and let a professional with a deep understanding of both languages translate.

It is wonderful the diversity of languages, each one can express different ideas and concepts differently. Some words are so "exact" in a given language that you cannot even build a sentence to fully translate them in let say English (or French for that matter).

This is exactly why you also have many computer languages, because each one has strengths and weaknesses. Imagine someone coming and telling you that you should not write your software in Ruby but in PHP because everybody is using PHP at the moment. What do you get? The "trolls" about one language is better than the other and this at nauseam.

So, this is not because one does not understand French that one should require a French to speak another language you understand. And this goes for every languages on Earth.

If you are only speaking English, it is maybe time you start learning a foreign language and start to live in a non English speaking country, this will open your mind even more than learning yet another programming language.

Edit: Forgot to congratulate you about your joke which was the first reason I wanted to answer, but I drifted :)

Languages are about communication. Some languages do indeed lack words for certain concepts, but English is not shy about taking what it needs; if there really is some useful concept that you cannot express in English, you can use the foreign word and it will become part of the language.

I lost all shyness about using English for everything when I met a couple of Lithuanians on a train in Slovenia. If there's anyone you'd expect to be proud of their language (after decades of the soviets trying to stamp it out) it's Lithuania. The one thing they complained about to me throughout the journey? All these Slovenians who wouldn't speak English.

Maybe the point of the video is to illustrate Europe's diversity. I personally very much like that a person can express on their own language if subtitles are provided.

No matter the reason, mixing different languages to name stuff in code and write comments in is bad practice in my opinion... Looking at the site's source they seem to be using both English and French. :/

Why do people that speak some flavour of English feel frightened by other languages?

I suspect the underlying cause is a combination of arrogance/entitlement and fear that English is on its way to become the next Latin.

Arrogance and entitlement perhaps, however I'd argue that both are deserved. It's the international standard, it's not as if we are arrogantly feeling entitled to everybody speaking farsi or something.

However fear that english is on it's way to becoming the next latin? Whaaaat? I can't recall a thought like that ever coming to my mind nor ever reading somebody saying that and now that I've taken it in, I can't think of a single reason why somebody would fear that. If anything, the rest of the World should start fearing all of their languages are going the way of latin...

English probably is on its way to becoming the next Latin. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Latin remained the primary language across much of Medieval Europe. Over the long term, two things happened: its local use in various European districts drifted into separate languages (French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, etc.), while the formal language ossified and died out.

That was a much different World where people only communicated with those who lived in their town. International travel and the internet have both made English much, much stronger and more important.

Did you mean the next esperanto? I don't think anybody thinks that English is going to be the next Latin, thanks to the internet, which is good though. A common language is useful for international relations. I usually call English a flapjack language because it was made from many others mashed up (quite badly sometimes). But the next Latin?

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