Comments on: Through and Thru

By: Gez

Gez — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 23:11:00 +0000

Be assured: I do not think less of your point due to your punctuation inconsistancies.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:19:00 +0000

No, I wasn’t deliberately being inconsistent, and I hope my inconsistency won’t detract from my point.

By: Gez

Gez — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:51:00 +0000

Anonymous, are you deliberately being inconsistent with your closing quotation marks and full-stop placements? If so, well played; I noticed and it got to me.

This is assuming anonymous and anonymous are not two people.

By: laura

laura — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:51:00 +0000

I agree with mighty red pen. I will also say that errors that are more horrific than “thru” have landed on my editorial desk (and most of my writers are M.D.s).

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:20:00 +0000

rpmason, OK… the American Heritage Book of English Usage at Bartley dot com has nothing to say about “thru”. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English says it’s “rarely been questioned seriously in Informal use”, and the American Heritage Dictionary says “Informal”.

By: Grammar King

Grammar King — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:53:00 +0000

Even my politics lecturer uses it! Admittedly she is American but it still grates on me.

By: Mighty Red Pen

Mighty Red Pen — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:49:00 +0000

I’m inclined to approach this on a case by case basis. While I’d gasp and faint if I saw it in any piece that landed on my editorial desk, I actually think “drive thru” is okay. Maybe I’m just too used to seeing it.

By: JD

JD — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:12:00 +0000

The Concise OED has ‘thru’ as ‘chiefly American, informal’. It doesn’t, however, have an entry for ‘nu’ (except one on the Greek letter of the same name…)

By: rpmason

rpmason — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:01:00 +0000

Gez, you might want to trademark that last sentence. In any case, I’ll credit you with it whenever I use it. Anonymous, if you’re American, let me introduce you to a little book called the American Heritage(R) Book of English Usage at Bartley dot com.

By: Gez

Gez — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:17:00 +0000

I’m aware of the Chicago Tribune origin. I’m still happy with my description of thru as a marketing spelling as that is the most common use these days.Nothing less than standard? Merriam-Webster do like a giggle don’t they?