"Gras" instead of "Gracias."

"Gras" instead of "Gracias."
 

Serious question,

Instead of saying "gracias" which is obviously 3 syllables I often say just "gras"
when paying for something or receiving some service.

But I've never heard anyone say it in Spanish speaking countries.


Is this every done, as it's quicker? OK to do, or considered wrong / weird?

People often abbreviate what they are saying. It's common. More frequently you will hear gracia instead of gras amongst Caribbean speakers, but as you wrote, things change from country to country.

No one will find correct to abbreviate a word if you're the only one doing it. Probably people understand "gras" in context, but that doesn't mean they find it correct; and maybe they don't tell you anything because they know you're a foreigner and already struggling with the language.
In SMS language (only there) people tend to write "grax", as a calque from English "thanx", but that is never how we talk.

And as Poli said, in some accents, people say "gracia", because they tend to drop the "s" at the end of many words.

Yes, Espanol Del Caribe [sic]

Dropping the [-s] at the end.

Dropping the final 's' is done everywhere I've been.

By the way, there are only two syllables in 'gracias'. The 'ia' combination is one syllable, pronounced like 'ya'. In the phonology used by the IPA, its letters are 'ja'.
Two syllables: hacia (toward) IPA: /ˈaθja/ Spain; /ˈasja/ Latin America
Three syllables: hacía (was doing/making) IPA: /aˈθia/ Spain; /aˈsia/ Latin America

it's always been a dipthong in my experience, but the term is very repetitive, IMO.

The world itself.

In humble honesty, I am beyong "struggling" - finally.

I've reached a new level in Spanish and I'll be going to Nica to study and live as long as the 6 months visa lasts and then travel through Mexico.

That said....travel....travel after my formal studies, does NOT mean I'll improve in a good way as for the speaking skill.

It's my responsibility and I have to be very cognizant and active in speaking to do it right.

Last time I was in Nicaragua, they dropped all 's' sounds (total elision or substitution), y se trata de vos, so you'll be learning another second-person conjugation.

Cheers for the note, Rusty.

I'm looking forward to going to Nica for the first time.

20 years ago in Guatemala a friend of mine introduced me to "voseo."

I actually liked it.

So, all 'S' sound are dropped, even in the middle of a word? Yeah, that's total elision.

I'll tune my ear.

Aspiration or elision of 's' happens when the sound ends a syllable within a word; it doesn't affect the sound when it starts a syllable.

For example, the s in "cosa" is always pronounced, but the second s in "cosas" may be reduced to aspiration or elided.

I actually heard 'somos' being changed to 'jomo' and 'nosostros', to 'nojotro'. So, elision and substitution was occurring. But that could be because I hung out with the less educated.