Re: Continual and Continuous Improvement

["March L. Jacques" <march@execpc.com>]

There is another point here, having to do with communication. We can
sticklers about using precise words (and I wholeheartedly approve), but we
need to recognize that common usage has the bigger impact on communication.
If the difference is important to the point you want to make, you are
better off to make the difference explicit by using other words or by
elaborating. 

Sure, people get confused about "continuous" and "continual" Webster's
Unabridged says "continuous" and "continual" are synonyms, and the first
definitions listed are very similar:

"continual: (1) proceeding without interruption or cessation; unceasing;
continuous."

"continuous: (1) joined without intervening space; without cessation or
interruption; unbroken, constant; connected; as, continuous depth."

The Associated Press Style Manual clarifies the distinction this
way:"Continual means a steady repetition, over and over again: 'The merger
has been the source of continual litigation.' Continuous means
uninterrupted, steady, unbroken: 'All she saw ahead of her was a continuous
stretch of desert.'"

Most people, however, don't "hear" any difference between continual and
continuous (or they confuse the two). They use the words interchangeably,
and, as you point out, the literature is full of both usages. When we are
readers, we can't assume that a writer was trying to make a distinction by
using one word vs the other. When we are writers, we must take common usage
into account. 

March Jacques
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