WaywardStranger
Boob
Canceling merely refers to cutting one animation short in favor of another. How and when you input cancelable attacks is another matter altogether.So there's no extra input at all between the normal combo and the special? Then what's the point of putting xx at all? Why not assume all inputs in a string transition into each other?
If that's all a cancel is, then you should stop sending people to that thread. It's not good info for new players learning about canceling. That page gives you a link which defines canceling "as breaking out of a current animation or move by inputing another move that cancels the previous one." But since you don't need to do another move between 1, 1, 2 and down, forward, 2, that definition is very misleading.
In Injustice and MK9, you generally cannot cancel a normal attack at any point during its animation. The inputs are indeed very strict.
Keep learning, you'll come to realize why xx or ~ are important.