話は別だけど

[Vagrere]

Another phrase I've run across a couple of times and haven't been able to find a satisfactory definition for is 話は別だけど (and some similar variations). From what I can piece together from context, it seems to run along the same lines as "but that's a different story," or "That's another matter, though." Still, I'd like some confirmation (though denials with corrections are always welcome, too).

[Unknownymous]

When I first saw it before clicking the topic, I first thought of "but that story is different." So I guess your translation is about the same as mine, though I'm not saying I'm all that reliable a source.

I've never come across this phrase before. Or if I have, I never gave it much thought, since it seems like the kind of thing that just slides into conversations, with pretty literal wording. I guess any more context would have to be observed from the sentence it's used in.

Any example from where you first/most noticeably found this such phrase?

[tetekmakhang]

your guess that it roughly means "but that's a different story," or "That's another matter, though." is absolutely spot on.

and example sentence would be:

歌がうまかったら話は別なんだけど、あんなださい歌ばっかり出してるのになんでそんなに人気あ るんだろう？

(If their songs were good then it'd be a totally different story, but how come they're so popular even though they keep releasing such crappy songs?)