> 「あんなのを欲しがるなんて、連邦も物好きよねえ。長いこと使っておい **てなんだけど** 、 **たいがい得体は知れない** のに」
>
> 「まあ、戦場なら役に立つんじゃない？
> こっちも阻電攪乱型はいるみたいだし。〈ジャガーノート〉の方は、あんな歩く棺桶なんか調べてどうするんだよって感じだけど」

86─エイティシックス─Ep.2 ─ラン・スルー・ザ・バトルフロント─〈上〉 安里アサト

They are talking about a communication tool.

How should I understand the usage of the bold part? Namely, the construction
〜てなんだけど? By the way, does the たいがい得体は知れない mean "I don’t know much about how it
works", literally?
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2022-06-09T13:36:32.887
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question
grammar
Understanding 〜てなんだけど
This kind of なんだけど can be understood as a contraction of
"A(しておい)て(いう/するのも)なんだけど", roughly meaning "it is
awkward/inconsistent/contradictory etc. to say/do after A"

Hopefully the examples explain:

  * 食べきっておいていうのもなんだけど、おいしくはない。 It is awkward to say after finishing it, but it was not really delicious.
  * 来てもらってなんだけど、あんまり手伝ってもらうことはない I appreciate that you have come, but a bit awkward to say, there is not much to do here.
  * 自分で言うのもなんだけど、これは完璧だ It is not right to say this about what I did myself, but this is perfect. (In this case, there is no A of the pattern)

I don't think the translations exactly convey the nuances of the Japanese
sentences, but basically なんだけど indicates the situation/action of the speaker
is not very consistent with what she says/does.

たいがい means basically "overall" or "most of the time". たいがいX is usually with a
word X of negative connotation. For example, たいがいいい加減だ means someone is いい加減
most of the time, if not always. So in this sense たいがい makes the description
softer.

So the bold part means _**it may be silly to say this** after having used it
for such a long time, **but the tool is rather fishy**_.

* * *

Note that なんだけど itself appears more "normally".

  * 明日のことなんだけど Regarding tomorrow('s schedule)
  * 子供が病気なんだけど My kid is ill, so...
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answer