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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   2399 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 12, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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If the U.S. puts a woman on some paper money, who should it be? I would vote for Laura Ingalls Wilder.

@hydroacetylene suggested Bessie Coleman, which prompted some "literally who" responses. I never heard of her myself. Looking her up, I'm assuming she's a Texas regional thing, like Juneteenth. Of course, like Juneteenth, the feds could be happy to use a Texas regional thing nationwide if it pleases the correct demographics.

@sarker suggested Louisa May Alcott.

@erwgv3g34 suggested Amelia Earhart.

Ayn Rand would be funny but not a realistic one.

If there still hasn't been a female President 10 years after Nancy Pelosi dies, then this question will have an easy answer. She is by far the most significant female political leader in the US to date.

Right now, I don't see any advance on Susan B Anthony, who was on the 1979 dollar coin for a good reason. She was also a leading candidate when the Obama administration wanted to replace Hamilton and/or Jackson with women.

It's a good thing we put at very few politicians on British banknotes - the row when feminists decide we need a woman and the only serious candidate is Margaret Thatcher would destroy confidence in the currency.

It's a good thing we put at very few politicians on British banknotes - the row when feminists decide we need a woman and the only serious candidate is Margaret Thatcher would destroy confidence in the currency.

I'm not sure why they chose Jane Austen instead of Florence Nightingale. The woman who invented modern nursing vs a woman who wrote six books about thinly veiled author inserts finding rich husbands. My guess is that the civil servants who decide are more likely to be English Lit graduates than nurses.

They change the portraits roughly every 20 years - Florence Nightingale was on the £10 from 1975-1994, making her the first woman to appear on British money who was neither the Queen nor Britannia.

I stand corrected. I wonder who's next. Hopefully not Mary Seacole.

I would favour Rosalind Franklin. Agatha Christie is the other obvious candidate.

I don't think anyone knows what Ada Lovelace looked like, and her achievements are overrated anyway. J K Rowling is still alive, which rules her out. Enid Blyton is too politically incorrect to be a serious candidate. Emmeline Pankhurst hasn't been on a banknote, and if she counts as a politician she probably won't be - Churchill is the only politician featured to date.

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