I can live with “thru”, but “thot” assumes the cot-caught merger (“thaut” would be better) and “tho” looks awful to me (I’m not sure why). Anyway, I think most people find it easier to read irregular but familiar spellings than regular but unfamiliar ones.
“thru” might even have more currency than “through” by now.
Not in published books, not in the COCA nor in any other place from which I can get quantitative data I can think of.
I can live with “thru”, but “thot” assumes the cot-caught merger (“thaut” would be better) and “tho” looks awful to me (I’m not sure why). Anyway, I think most people find it easier to read irregular but familiar spellings than regular but unfamiliar ones.
Not in published books, not in the COCA nor in any other place from which I can get quantitative data I can think of.