Here you go. This will do the same thing and you don't have to hack the db or worry about any extra queries.
PHP Code:
//start characters length hack
$maxchars='60'; // thread title length
$thread[title]=unhtmlspecialchars($thread[title]);
if (strlen($thread[title]) > $maxchars) {
$thread[title] = substr($thread[title], 0, $maxchars-2) . '...';
}
//end characters length hack