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Whitmore. What’s in a name? Like most people I am proud of my family and our name, and I have always liked it. But you would be surprised how many different nicknames you can get from a last name and how easy a target I have been most of my life.
It started when I was younger and people would call me “WHITEmore.” At first I think people just mispronounced it, but now I think they say it because of my non-interest in tanning. Besides the one man who likes to call me “witless” most everyone else just puts any old word in front of the word “more” and voila, instant nickname for me. I have heard Wantmore, Getmore, Winmore (my personal favorite) and most recently Skidmore. They don’t even really have to make sense.
Then there’s the game that kids play where they switch around the first letters of your first and last names, go ahead and try it, it’s pretty funny. Unless you’re me and your name is Warah Shitmore! Almost every brand I have ever ridden for has threatened to make that misprint on my jerseys.
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Speaking of jerseys, they haven’t always been my friend either. A long time ago before I was cool enough to have pre-printed name and numbers on my jersey, I had every letter ironed on separately. As they sometimes do, the letters started coming off one at a time every time it went through the dryer. One jersey in particular lost the W, O and the R leaving only H, I, T, M, and E. Hit me, that’s just what you want on your back when you are racing!
This year though I made a new discovery about my name with the help of my Leatt brace. I never noticed it before because I always wore a chest protector, but when I raced my first GP this year they wouldn’t let me wear it over my jersey, but underneath. After the race I was looking at pictures and saw one of me jumping from behind. My eyes immediately went to my name. The I, T, and M were being covered by my brace, leaving W H on one side and O R E on the other! Now, this is only funny because it’s not true. Besides, it’s important to have a sense of humor about yourself, and nobody makes fun of me better than I do. I think it’s so funny that I wanted to share it with everyone; maybe I just like being teased?
Even after all of the trouble it has given me I still love my name and wouldn’t change it for anything…Well, except to that of the lucky man who gets to marry me someday. I’m just hoping that whoever he is he has an easier name, like maybe Emig or Depp… Hahaha, okay, I am
really hoping here!
