Specially vs. Especially 1

[AnotherHiggins]

In thread1256-1140110, a discussion came up about the use of Specially vs. Especially.

The context in which it came up was a post by tgreer that read as follows:

…. More recently, a letter from my son's High School arrived, informing us of an optional PSAT test he could take:

Q. Should I take the test?

A. Yes, specially if your college bound!

I kid you not.

That was followed by:

TGreer,
Was the point of humor regarding the PSAT letter, the word "Specially"? If so, I'm not sure it is flat out wrong, however grating to the ears. I am open to being corrected if I am wrong about this.

And then:

Thadeus it should be:
"Yes, specially if you are college bound!"

Then I said:

->Was the point of humor regarding the PSAT letter, the word "Specially"?

I believe there were two points of humor: "Specially" and "your".

In the context of the letter, the former should read "especially" and the latter "you're". "Especially" in this context means "particularly". "You're" is a contraction for "you are", whereas "your" is possessive.

The letter might as well have read, A. Yes, specially if yourself can tells these here letters ain't writtten two good!

Then Thadeus says:

[Thadeus bangs head off various hard objects]
Sorry. I knew I was opening myself up on that one, but what the heck. As was displayed in the "Cambridge test", we compensate for such things. I never use the wrong "your/you're" when writing, because I am sensitive to the context... but when reading, I compensated. Especially when I was concentrating my ears on "Specially".

A note regarding "Specially". Merriam-Webster has the primary definition of Especially as 1. Specially which seems to my reading to mean that either word would be just as correct in the above sentence.

You'res truly,
Thadeus

And lastly:

dictionary.com also gives them as synonyms. Can anybody point to an authoritative explanation of any difference?

Whew! Ok, GO!

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[blue]-John[/blue][/tt]

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[CajunCenturion]

==> Most of us can tell what was the intention of the author, based on the original question and our knowledge of what PSAT tests are.
I disagree with that. Only the author knows where he or she intended the emphasis to be.

If you look back at tgreer's post of 21 Oct 05, 12:01, he provides a reference from the American Heritage Dictionary, which states in part, "Specially is used with reference to a particular purpose: ...". Would you not agree that going to college is a particular purpose?

I think this is a situation where either word is correct. The difference is where the emphasis is placed. With the improper use of 'your' notwithstanding, and granted, it does raise considerable doubt, I'll continue to give the author the benefit of the doubt that the author chose the desired word.

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