I just found out about this now, had a chuckle, and had to share it.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/桃屋-辛そうで辛くない少し辛いラ...003IPZK90/

辛そうで辛くない少し辛いラー油

The intended meaning is: "Looks/appears/seems spicy but not spicy, well a little bit spicy chilli oil". Yes, that's the product name if you walk into a supermarket and ask for it. "Could you please tell me where I can find the Spicy-looking but not spicy, well a little bit spicy chilli oil?"

Anyway, grammar question: I can't figure out what the usage of で here is. Actually, it's probably the te-form (or in this case, the de-form) of そうだ but if so, then where does the "but/however" implication come in? I thought te-forms were just a sequence of states?

Or is it just context: I see 辛そうで and then I see 辛くない so I should naturally think "there appears to be a contradiction, therefore I should translate de as "but" instead of "and" similar to と and if/when". Why not just use が or けど instead?

It means "Spicy while not spicy, a little bit spicy raayu", where the "while" corresponds to the te-form, indicating that the sauce is in these two states at the same time.

The で here is the -て form of the copula. Just like saying おいしくて素晴らしいレシピ, though I guess X-そうでX-くない is a bit of a set phrase for saying something seems a certain way but actually isn't.

Quote:もしかしたら
からそうで　からくない　すこしつらい　らーゆ
かもしれないな

http://mudainodqnment.blog35.fc2.com/blo...-1286.html

CJ