Writing Tip 18: (“Threw v. Through v. Thru” or “Clarity to Fast Food Defenestration”)
It has come to our attention that “Thru” has slipped into the business world. Repeatedly. We know we aren’t the only ones cringing. Remember, “through” is a preposition; “threw” is a verb, the past tense of “throw.” Yes, “thru” seems ubiquitous from fast food chains to major news network twitter feeds (twitch, wince… deep breath), but this is an abbreviation that simply is not appropriate for the workplace.
To help you remember these differences, let’s think about a fast food chain employee exasperated by customers’ bad grammar. One day, he was so annoyed, he threw (verb) food through (preposition) the drive-thru (annoying abbreviation) window. See the variance? And don’t you love that a word like “defenestration” exists?
Writing Tip # 18.1: Defenestration – The act of throwing something through a window.