Is continua really common?

[TRex]

The ten least-played common words in the CONTINUAL puzzle:
anon - 168
contain - 163
cannot - 153
canton - 144
toucan - 140
coital - 129
ulna - 123
ciao - 112
oilcan - 104
continua - 31

Despite being nearly the same as the seed word (played by 196), continua was played less than one-third as many times as the second least played common word. Surely a candidate for being downgraded?

[anona]

I had only a quick stab at this game, but wouldn't have got continua however long I'd spent. I've never seen it used. I suspect it's in scientific/mathematical texts, is it? Continuum, yes.

[mkenuk]

This was the only word I missed in the continual game. Cost me a rosette. Grrrrrr!

I've suggested in another post that cicerone, which was played by just over 8% (16 from 199) of those taking part, should be reclassified.
continua was also played by just over 8% of those taking part in the continual game (31 from 387).

Quite a few Latin plurals have been 'uncommonized' over the last couple of years - recta and sterna are two examples that spring to mind.
I think continuum should probably be classed as 'common', but not its plural.

[TRex]

I think continuum should probably be classed as 'common', but not its plural.

That would be my choice. I expect Alan will wait for some other comments before jumping in.

But I wonder what the chances are of having continuum appear with two Us?

[mkenuk]

Words with two, or even three, 'u's are not unusual, but I think that if continuum were to appear in a future Chi game, it would be as a seed-word. My first impressions are that it would be difficult to make 24 words (the minimum requirement) from its letters.

Nor, off the top of my head, can I think of a common 10-letter word, the letters of which would give continuum 

That doesn't mean there isn't one, of course.

[Alan W]

The letters of CONTINUUM can make 17 common words if N is the mandatory letter. This is too few for a daily puzzle, but it can be a small puzzle under the Your Puzzles tab, and it has made such a puzzle a few times. There is no potential 10-letter seed word that includes the letters of CONTINUUM.

As for the original issue, making continua a rare word, it seems plausible. I'll deal with it shortly.

[Jacki]

Well it's the only common word I missed too and I must say I didn't really think it was that common!

[Alan W]

In previous cases where Latin plurals have been discussed, it's often been found that the plural made by adding s to the end of the word is actually used more often than the Latin form. That doesn't seem to be the case with continuum: continua appears more frequently than continuums. Nevertheless, neither of these plurals is used very often at all. It's not so easy to think of a situation where you would want to make a plural of the word.

I agree with the solution suggested by commenters, of leaving continuum as a common word but treating continua as rare.

Incidentally, the discussion as to whether continuum could ever appear in a puzzle has taken on a different complexion now we have 7-by-many puzzles. In October last year there was a puzzle with continuum as the all-letter word.

[TRex]

Thank you, sir.