Learn English – more appropriate to say “pay especial attention to” or “pay special attention to”

adjectivesword-choice

Merriam Webster

Special

1 : distinguished by some unusual quality especially : being in some
way superior 2 : held in particular esteem 3 a : readily distinguishable from others of the same
category : UNIQUE
b : of, relating to, or constituting a species : SPECIFIC 4 : being
other than the usual : ADDITIONAL, EXTRA 5 : designed for a
particular purpose or occasion

and

Especial

being distinctive: as a : directed toward a particular individual,
group, or end b : of special note or importance : unusually great
or significant c : highly
distinctive or personal : PECULIAR
d : CLOSE, INTIMATE e : SPECIFIC, PARTICULAR

Online Etymology Dictionary

especial (adj.)

late 14c., from Old French especial "pre-eminent, important," from Latin specialis "belonging to a particular kind or species," from
species "kind" (see species).
Latin words with initial sp-, st-, sc- usually acquired an e- when borrowed by Old French. Modern French has restored the word to
spécial. Originally with the same sense as special, later restricted
to feelings, qualities, etc.

I gather from these definitions, the proper adjective to use is “especial”- to pay especial attention to. But I hardly encounter this use in common usage.

Any insight would be highly appreciated.

Best Answer

The actual usage stats from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) and the British National Corpus (BNC) look as follows:

                              COCA       BNC

pay especial attention to        0         0
pay special attention to       129        30
ratio (%)                        0         0

especial attention               3         4
special attention              899       218
ratio (%)                        0.3       1.8

especial                       146       128
special                      86341     21534   
ratio (%)                        0.2       0.6

So the verdict is exceptionally clear, on both sides of the Atlantic.

This usage of special is covered just fine by both dictionaries you consulted: the attention is "other than the usual: ADDITIONAL, EXTRA" (your Merriam-Webster quote), and the attention is not a "feeling, quality", to which especial came to be restricted (your Etymonline quote).

What I do not see follow from these dictionary entries is that it should be "especial". You just make that bold claim out of the blue, with no proof or reason to go with it. The quotes do not support it.

More to the point perhaps, you suggest that meaning is somehow derived from dictionary definitions, while the exact opposite is true. Or, in the words of an actual linguist: "Languages are not formal logic systems, and words do not derive their meanings from the definitions in dictionaries. If they did, then your argument would mean something, but as it is what you have is an amusing but pointless exercise."

If native speakers around the world collectively start using special to mean "orange", then that is what it actually means. If a dictionary fails to include that definition, it's the dictionary's problem, and the speakers do not need to pay heed to its shortcomings. (Indeed, they do not need to so much as be aware of the dictionary's existence, or any dictionary's for that matter.)

Conversely, if a dictionary decides to pretend that special means "orange", it doesn't mean jack as long as nobody at all uses the word that way. Unlike French or Spanish, English simply does not have a regulatory body that can prescribe usage like that.

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