Through vs. thru. in official documentation

Question

Through vs. thru. in official documentation

rotw (Mechanical)

(OP)

31 Jan 20 19:58

Is it adequate to use "thru." in lieu of "through" in engineering documentation, specification, and also in CV's, professional portfolios, etc.?

I received some conflicting views about this, so I just wanted to check.

Thanks.

jmec87 (Mechanical) · Answer 1 · 2020-01-31 20:11:09

In general, I would say no because I would perceive it as poor spelling. However, there are also some exceptions: "thru" on a drawing (as in "drill thru") is common and I would normally prefer it to "through". There may be other exceptions where "thru" is commonly used.

IRstuff (Aerospace) · Answer 2 · 2020-01-31 20:30:30

"Thru" is in pretty common usage in traffic signs; I think that's common enough that "through" is starting to look a little pedantic and archaic. But, I think in prose writing "through" is still preferable.

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rotw (Mechanical) · Answer 3 · 2020-01-31 20:48:00

I take note that it's even not with the dot, means not "thru." but "thru".

JohnRBaker (Mechanical) · Answer 4 · 2020-01-31 21:19:05

Years ago, I was much more careful about always using "through", but over the past few years, with the usage of "thru" becoming both more common, and apparently, more acceptable, I've started to become a bit lazy and have frequently caught myself using the shorter form. That probably doesn't help with your inquiry, but...

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jmec87 (Mechanical) · Answer 5 · 2020-01-31 22:19:58

Quote (rotw)
I take note that it's even not with the dot, means not "thru." but "thru".

I don't recall ever seeing "thru." (with the dot) before this thread. I would go with "through" for most prose usage and "thru" (no dot) on drawings, signs, etc.

JohnRBaker (Mechanical) · Answer 6 · 2020-01-31 22:43:26

"Thru" is not an abbreviation, therefore there is no use for the period/dot. It's a word in and of itself, improper perhaps, but a word all the same. The dictionary lists it as a 'Nonstandard spelling of the word "through"'.

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rotw (Mechanical) · Answer 7 · 2020-01-31 23:37:08

Yep. I thought it was (and there should be no reason). Thanks for the clarification.

kipfoot (Structural) · Answer 8 · 2020-02-02 16:10:43

'THRU' is okay on drawings, where its precedent is handwritten notes and where space is sometimes limited. It's okay on signs, I suppose, because it's shorter. Also in text messages, where economy of characters is accepted practice.

Anywhere else, I use 'through' because that's the spelling of the word.

fel3 (Civil/Environmental) · Answer 9 · 2020-02-03 17:48:23

As mentioned above, "thru" is an "informal variant" of "through" and not an abbreviation. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thru)

I never use "thru" in place of "through", even in emails. "Thru" makes sense on signage because I think it's quicker to read and understand compared to "through", which looks like several other words.

============
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fattdad (Geotechnical) · Answer 10 · 2020-02-12 13:38:51

I'm going with, "No!" I also find it inappropriate to use postal abbreviations in written text!

f-d

ípapß gordo ainÆt no madre flaca!

xwb (Computer) · Answer 11 · 2020-02-13 12:12:38

Thru is the North American spelling, through is the British spelling.

IRstuff (Aerospace) · Answer 12 · 2020-02-13 14:31:26

Nice of you to lump the Canadians and Mexicans in with us, but I would guess they would both disagree about that spelling.

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electricpete (Electrical) · Answer 13 · 2020-02-18 17:35:22

I don't agree thru is correct for formal writing even for the US although I have a hard time offering proof. Certainly googling through vs thru suggests through is correct for formal writing.

I was wondering if my Little Brown Handbook would weigh in on this. That reference used to be always at-the-ready in my drawer to resolve critically important matters like comma disputes. I just realized that I haven't looked for it in years (google is easier) and it's no longer there where I thought it would be. Times change.

=====================================
(2B)+(2B)' ?

IRstuff (Aerospace) · Answer 14 · 2020-02-18 20:04:06

Well, we seem to be going down the path of French grammar and language police, who, luckily was most active before internet memes appeared, and were thus spared a lot of spearing and trolling.

If you read some of the modern discussions on grammar, it turns out that much of the English grammar "rules" we learned in school were essentially ad hoc.

English words, in particular, are a polyglotinous mash from several languages, so there really isn't any spelling that was cast down from Mount Sinai, as it were. Through, cough, though, bough, rough are all pronounced differently.

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JohnRBaker (Mechanical) · Answer 15 · 2020-02-18 20:22:05

However, English is a MUCH larger language. The number of standard English words is so much greater than French that it would make it nearly impossible to enforce any sort of ridged set of rules. When you include technical and scientific jargon, there are something over one million English words. There are over 600,000 in the Oxford English Dictionary, whereas the authoritative French dictionary published by Larousse, has only 130,000 words.

Note that for the average individual, for whom English is their first language, has a working vocabulary of 20,000 - 35,000 words, which is probably not all that much different than the native speakers of any of the major languages. The big difference is that speakers of English have a really deep pocket that they can reach into when they're looking for something different in terms of vocabulary and esoteric terminology.

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rotw (Mechanical) · Answer 16 · 2020-02-19 01:54:25

Dutch is not that bad too in terms of number of words (~400,000 ?).

Artisi (Mechanical) · Answer 17 · 2020-02-26 11:55:23

Adding to what JohnRBaker said and the number of words available in English via the deep pocket available, what is interesting is that although there is often many cases where the word choice is wide and variable to suit a particular situation and a number fit the bill adequately, there is usually only 1 word that is "the word" to use - the beauty of having the thesaurus handy and the time /desire to make that finite choice.

It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)

ClassicArabians (Chemical) · Answer 18 · 2020-03-28 09:00:01

"Thru" is not an abbreviation, therefore there is no use for the period/dot. It's a word in and of itself, improper perhaps, but a word all the same. The dictionary lists it as a 'Nonstandard spelling of the word "through"'.

Artisi (Mechanical) · Answer 19 · 2020-03-28 11:01:51

Thru is not a word, it's an informal use of through and has no place in formal engineering text or writing - - - - what's next 'cause instead of because?

It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)

oldinspector (Structural) · Answer 20 · 2020-03-28 17:37:42

Engineers are considered professionals. Stick with real english (or is it English)
Use through.

ColinPearson (Petroleum) · Answer 21 · 2020-04-20 19:05:55

@Artisi - or, perhaps worse: tho instead of though?

IRstuff (Aerospace) · Answer 22 · 2020-04-20 19:09:05

Quote:
what's next 'cause instead of because?

Nope, it's

Spoiler:

cuz

which is already been in use for at least a couple of years.

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FACS (Mechanical) · Answer 23 · 2020-04-20 19:23:33

But, "cuz" was supposed to be short for Cousin..?..

Sup, Cuz?

Maybe it will depend on how we say it.

IRstuff (Aerospace) · Answer 24 · 2020-04-20 20:43:43

Lots of English words have multiple meanings.

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davidbeach (Electrical) · Answer 25 · 2020-04-21 01:54:26

Quote (IRstuff)
Lots of English words have multiple meanings.

Doesn’t it take multiple definitions to make it a real English word?

JohnRBaker (Mechanical) · Answer 26 · 2020-04-21 02:09:42

That's a good one...

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1503-44 (Petroleum) · Answer 27 · 2020-05-13 20:18:11

Ever noticed when on multiple language tour groups, some listening to English and some listening to Spanish, the English always have to wait like 2 minutes for the Spanish recordings to finish before the group can move on.

“What I told you was true ... from a certain point of view.” - Obi-Wan Kenobi, "Return of the Jedi"

IRstuff (Aerospace) · Answer 28 · 2020-05-13 20:37:50

I think that's probably true of a lot of languages, many other languages are not quite as dynamic as English; because of its historical adulterations with other languages, we seem to be less concerned about arbitrarily creating new words, while other languages tend to try and coin entire phrases for single words.

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IRstuff (Aerospace) · Answer 29 · 2020-05-13 20:46:18

as an example, in Chinese, "processor" is translated to "electric brain" not particularly longer than in English.

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JohnRBaker (Mechanical) · Answer 30 · 2020-05-13 21:06:59

Or it's like German where they do a lot of concatenation, like 'junction' translates to 'autobahnkreuzung' which is literally 'highway crossing'.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
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IRstuff (Aerospace) · Answer 31 · 2020-05-13 21:55:13

I heard on the news in the last couple of days that some French language organization had ruled that it's "la covid," which seems to have been a burning issue over the last few months.

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dgallup (Automotive) · Answer 32 · 2020-05-14 15:00:28

French, like a lot of languages, must assign gender to most (all?) nouns even if it's completely nonsensical to do so.

----------------------------------------

The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.

Tomfh (Structural) · Answer 33 · 2020-05-14 19:29:15

Down with “through”!

It’s a wretched word that should have been put out its misery hundreds of years ago.

IDS (Civil/Environmental) · Answer 34 · 2020-06-04 23:56:59

I presume everybody is talking USA usage here?

I have never seen the word "thru" in a technical or legal document, or CV, or even a road sign, and I see no reason to use it.

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IRstuff (Aerospace) · Answer 35 · 2020-06-05 04:56:50

so here's one and "THRU" is codified in the MUTCD https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/2009r1r2/mutcd2009...

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IDS (Civil/Environmental) · Answer 36 · 2020-06-05 05:26:32

Well I have now seen lots of them, but all on-line, and I'm pretty sure all in N. America.

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IDS (Civil/Environmental) · Answer 37 · 2020-06-05 05:52:44

From another forum:

"Note though that it did have some currency in middle English.

"Þe sune beme Gas thru þe glas." from the Cursor Mundi, circa 1300. "

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ACtrafficengr (Civil/Environmental) · Answer 38 · 2020-06-05 12:08:56

I wonder why that thru wasn't spelled þru.

My glass has a v/c ratio of 0.5

Maybe the tyranny of Murphy is the penalty for hubris. - http://xkcd.com/319/

Rogue909 (Mechanical) · Answer 39 · 2020-06-05 12:11:04

I've always considered thru a specific variant off through. Appropriate in documents as applied with the specific variant.

Through can mean the same as thru in the sense of a 'thru hole' but can also mean the continuation 'through' with a process.

So in a work instruction to an operator I would not be against stating "Mark the points as shown on drawing with a drill tap and follow through with drilling of the thru-hole.".

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Through vs. thru. in official documentation