While standing in line at the grocery store during the after-work rush hour last week, I noticed the cashier was wearing a yellow rubber bracelet and thought a little Tour talk might spice up the check-out line.

“Been watching the race?” I asked him as he was ringing me up.

The teen-aged cashier looked up at me with a puzzled expression and said nothing — not exactly the “yeah, did you see that move Lance pulled on the peloton yesterday?” response I was expecting.

“The Tour de France?” I prompted.

Still nothing.

“I saw your bracelet and thought maybe you were a Lance fan,” I said, sheepishly pointing to his wrist.

“This one says ‘Live for Him,’” he replied. It didn’t seem like he even knew who Lance was.

While I’ve closely monitored the fascinating surge in rubber wrist bands bearing sundry logos over the past couple of years, I thought yellow was reserved only for the original “Livestrong” bracelets created by Lance Armstrong to support his cancer foundation. But apparently, yellow is no longer off-limits in the growing phenomenon that has people baring messages of support on their wrists for everything from breast cancer research, smoking prevention, children with HIV, prisoners of war, racial tolerance, hunger relief, free speech, and Alzheimer’s funding.

Intrigued by the phenomenon, I have recently been asking people I meet about the messages they are sporting through these rubber bracelets, which are particularly interesting when donned by an attorney in a formal suit or smartly dressed woman at a political function. I discovered the most obscure bracelet message two weekends ago — a white bracelet that supports the idea of dedicating 1 percent of the United States annual budget to aid poor African countries.

So I just have to say “thanks,” Lance, for this interesting addition to American culture.