I don't understand the structure of this sentence

[Sir Sanderson]

Hello

A few moments ago, reading an article on guardian.co.uk, I bumped into this sentence:

For while many people still associate alpine design with cosy wooden chalets, cuckoo clocks and red and white check curtains, those in the design world know that...

I do understand the meaning of this sentence, but the structure highlighted in bold seems peculiar to me; Were I to write a similar sentence, I would either use "For many people...." or "While many people.....". I have never seen this two conjunctions (are those both conjunctions?) used as a pair. Could you explain to me the logic of this structur and when a native speaker/expert user would use it?

Thanks in advance

Bjoern

[Mister Micawber]

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Here, 'for' means 'because' and 'while' means 'at the same time that'. The collocation is reasonably common in more formal English.
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[Sir Sanderson]

Thx for the explanation; could someone give me a few examples, where one would/should use this collocation?

[Casiopea]

Welcome, Sir Sanderson.

Here's a good sample of the kinds of environments for while sits in. Hope it helps. (Please note, since for while isn't generally all that common of a subordinating conjunction in American English, I narrowed my search to British English sites.)

For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, ...

For while the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you.

When, in a speech in Cape Town in 1966, Robert F Kennedy invented the 'ancient Chinese curse', "May he live in interesting times" he might well have been talking about education at the beginning of the 21st century; for while the ubiquity of Internet access has indeed made our times interesting, it has also cursed educators into poorly-defined online roles.

It was a brilliant riposte: for while Hindi was not widely spoken in Thiruvanthapuram, in Lucknow, Malayalam was not known at all.

..., for while 'to be' is a fairly straightforward verb, whose simple ...

For while denouncing it vehemently on the public platform, he accepts it secretly by ...

However, even the wily German book-sellers could not penetrate the American market, for while, as of 1777, a foreigner might safely publish in Britain (in fact, as of 1835 he need not even be resident in the United Kingdom, providing his work were first published in Britain before any other country...

One could go on. For example, Chynoweth's objections to the significance of the Stannaries and the Duchy of Cornwall as constitutional accommodations of Cornwall are fleeting and inadequate. All of which is a shame — for while the worth of Chynoweth's book is limited by its inadequacies, it is (notwithstanding the uncomfortable hostility to Cornish particularism) clearly a labour of love.

Kumar sees the problem of identifying the English identity as not so much one of defining a content of self-conceived differences, as all nations do - in our case fair play, the sporting spirit, toleration, the cult of the gentleman, love of gardening, and so on - but of trying to see how much any (changing) content of Englishness depends on reactions to, and contrasts with, the strong identities of the other nations in the British Isles. For while the Scottish, Welsh and Irish have had, for a long time, a formidable literature of nationalism, the English strangely have not.

All the best.

[Mister Micawber]

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Thanks, Cass-- and 'hi' back!

MM

[Casiopea]

Hi, MM.

Do you think for while is synonymous with whereas? If not, OK. But if so, could it be that some speakers, notably traditionalists, opt for for while because (a) while shouldn't be used in that way, and (b) whereas shouldn't introduce a sentence?

Note for other members, (a) and (b) are prescribed rules.

All the best.

[Sir Sanderson]

Thanks a lot, Casiopea. Now that I've seen the collocation in different contexts, I think I've got the hang of it.

[Casiopea]

You're most welcome.