I've stumbled across this line in a short novel and all of a sudden,
everything I've learnt so far as a student in the language has gone out the
window by something as simple as the "で" particle.

> 「美咲{みさき}のそういう冷たい顔で暑苦しい所、本当にキモいと思うけど、結構好きだよボク？」

From what I can gather, it almost feels like で should be translated as
something like "yet or "but" here, but I'm not aware of any usages of "で" with
this sort of nuance.

> "A cold expression like that on Misaki yet[?] In a hot place, I think it's
> really gross but I kinda like it?"

I'm not sure, the whole first part "美咲のそういう冷たい顔で暑苦しい所" seems a mess when I try
to translate it in my head and I think it's because the で is causing me
confusion, so it would be great if someone could point out where I'm going
wrong :)
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2017-07-03T23:02:59.217
48999
2017-07-04T01:52:04.053
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question
meaning particles
The purpose of で in this context?
で on its own does not have the nuance of "but" or "yet". Here this で is simply
[the te-form of the
copula](http://www.japaneseprofessor.com/reference/grammar/conjugations-of-
the-japanese-copula/). ～顔だ and ～顔をしている are common expressions in Japanese
(see: [Describing facial
expression](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/42349/5010)).

Basically 冷たい顔で暑苦しい (literally "being sultry (while) having a cold face") is a
kind of [oxymoronic](https://www.thoughtco.com/awfully-good-examples-of-
oxymorons-1691814) expression and should be treated as such. Explicitly
inserting "but" in a rhetoric expression like "bitter sweet" is awful, isn't
it?
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2017-07-04T01:03:00.160
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2017-07-04T01:52:04.053
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answer