bumper thing

standard Texas plate:

While stopped at a traffic light on leaving mass, my eyes were caught by the rear of the dark blue car in front of me. My mind was elsewhere, but I was somewhere eyeing the bright colors on this bumper. Our license plates have a tiny state of Texas separating the license numbers. On this one, the tiny state is rainbow-colored. On the bumper, starting from the left and running about 3/4 across is a very narrow sticker strip, also rainbow colored and each color clearly demarcated from the next (instead of blending into the next color). It caught my eye because it started out straight but then took a dip and then came back up across. Then on the lower left of the bumper is a small rectangle, again rainbow colors, each color bar stacked on top of the next.

Having had a few science classes, I'm used to seeing rainbow colors expressed horizontally. The rectangular vertical stack kinda caused a brain re-wiring somewhere.

My first thought was "hmm...they've got a license plate expressing their Mexican heritage." We have a strong Mexican subculture here. But then wait a minute, those are not Mexico colors. It was only then that I realized they were rainbow colors, as were the rectangle and strip. Now it got my full attention. My thought turned to Natty and I grinned, being very pleased with myself for knowing what that rainbow thing is. I thought that the license plate was fun looking, the rectangle was tasteful, and the strip suggests someone who isn't particularly uptight (they didn't care that it wasn't centered or that it wasn't straight). As with all people-watching, I wondered who the two ladies in the car were and what those bumper stickers meant to them.

The use of symbols - still a hallmark of being "human." Are there people who do not know that the cross sometimes means something other than the math operator symbol for addition? Are there many like myself who are largely unaware that the rainbow in this case meant something besides the light wavelength spectrum?