Specially and Especially

[Ducklet Cat]

Specially vs. Especially

Is there any difference?

Thanks.

[Mister Micawber]

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From the Columbia Guide to Standard American English:

Special and especial are adjectives, special much more frequently used: She’s a very special sort of person. Special appears increasingly in stereotypical phrases such as special agent and special delivery, including a growing number of euphemisms such as special education, which stress the idea that something special is “designed or intended for a particular purpose”; hence “unusual.” Especial is more Formal in many uses, perhaps because it occurs relatively infrequently. The adverbs specially and especially are distributed somewhat differently: uses such as specially planned, specially constructed, and specially created are very common; especially only rarely occurs in them. Otherwise, the adverbs are semantically interchangeable, although especially is a bit more formal in some contexts, where it contrasts with the aphetic specially: We were especially pleased you’d decided to join.
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[Ducklet Cat]

That was very instructive!

I have always thought that specially means "specially for you ...etc" but especially is used when you refer to a situation "We went, especially that John was coming), but when I read some examples I found out I was mistaken.

Thanks :)