I like to pronounce “thru” with the corniest fake Scottish accent I can muster, because that’s how it looks on the page.
99% of evolution is death. Sure, the language will evolve, but that doesn’t mean that every ugly new alternate spelling should be embraced. Purge the unworthy!
Plow on through to the other side!
Plough on thru to the other side!
Donuts for all!!
Thru, rite, nite, lite, brite, [del]hite[/del], luv, tuff, and so on all cause me to twitch just a little bit–not quite a cringe, just a little jerk in my cheek. That said, I pretty much agree with the folks arguing that they’re more or less acceptable, or becoming so in certain situations, at least. (Thru perhaps more than all of the others, which are all pretty strictly limited to informal or commercial writing.) I know better than to be a prescriptivist.
But it does make me a little sad to know that in admitting this, I apparently also lose the fight against IM/txt speak. Ah well. I’ll be over here petting Miller’s alot to comfort myself.
Thru is recognized a word by Microsoft word.
“Lite” to me is more of a trade name, and it serves a useful purpose, too. It means “light” on something, but not in a good way. If I say that the TV show Pan Am was nothing more than Mad Men, Lite, well that’s a very useful expression ands conveys a different meaning than does Mad Men, Light.
That’s the beauty of language. Let the mo-fo evolve, folks!!
Anyone have problem with mo-fo? Serves a useful purpose, too.
Mo-fo sounds way too light and fluffy to be slang for motherfucker. It should be the name of a marshmallow-based dessert.
OK, you create a product like that and market it under the name Mo-Fo, and report back on how well it sells (not counting sales to Frat Houses). 
Yeah, but you see, there’s no real use to “rite” vs “right”. Sure you save a letter, big whoop. Same with “luv”, and a number of others. “Lite” may be different, since a “light/lite” dessert does not give off any lumens. John Mace has a point, too.
I don’t want to just save a letter. Not good enough. I think there is a difference between “I am through with you” and “I ran a spear thru you”.
The one that drives my sister nuts is “tho.”
I think that the OP’s point is that “thru” is used even by people who avoid most other simplified spellings, and he’s wondering why it is that it’s so much more mainstream than other similar simplifications. There’s no value judgement necessary for that question (though, admittedly, comparing it to a turd is nonetheless something of a value judgement).
*Thru *is older. It dates back to spelling reform in the 1870’s.
Its simplified spelling was also (along with most -*ough *words) endorsed by Theodore Roosevelt during his presidency.
irregardless im thru wit airors.
I wish everyone had my ability to simply spelling; I sometimes feel it is my duty to show everyone how it is done.
You know, give a man a ghoti and he has a meal, but teach a man to ghoti…
mmm
Ketchup or catsup?
Right out in public?!?
Neither is “alot” but I’m going to keep using both. Not specifically to get a rise out of people like you… but the thought is in my mind each time… oh, and don’t even start on how many “…” I use… or do, what do I care !!!
It’s a staple of plan sheets- you’ll see “SECTION THRU” whatever the section is through. Highway signs are pretty standard, too- THRU TRAFFIC with an arrow indicating where they go. Other than that, it should be spelled out correctly.
I don’t accept donut, either.
Good. More donuts for the rest of us. <drool>
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
If it’s evolution, the only thing purging the unworthy is natural selection: unworth proving itself by the inability to survive in a competitive environment.
Looks to me like “through” is the unworthy one, considering how it’s losing out in natural selection.
Advocate “purging [your idea of] the unworthy”, but don’t mistake it for natural selection.
I admit, while I use “donut” and “hiccup,” “thru” looks weird to me outside of signage. Not sure why that is. I speculate it’s because ending a word with a “u” is fairly rare in English, minus obvious loanwords. The usual ending would be “-ue” for that sound. I suppose representing that sound with “-ough” isn’t much better, though.