>Hi Tamar,
>
>>That may me how Thomas spells "borough," but it's not the standard spelling. However, increasingly, we're seeing "boro."<
>
>I suspect that is just shorthand for all the people too lazy to type full words ... like the use of "ic ur not 2 happy", which, BTW, drives me crazy! <g>
>

I actually think there's a distinction between the evolution of "borough" to "boro" and the IM slang. The truth is that the extra letters in "borough" do nothing to tell you how to pronounce the word or to distinguish from other words. They're a historical artifact of the way the word used to be pronounced. My guess is that our grandchildren (or maybe it's our great-grandchildren) will learn "boro" and "thru" in school.

Tamar