Meaning of いかにもついでに~ような


I found this sentence in a book:

> いかにもついでに掘ったような細い道を無視し、放置されたライトが多くぶら下がってる方向を選んだり、と自分なりに工夫しながら進む

I think I kind of understand it: something like "Ignoring the narrow dug
paths, I chose the direction in which many abandoned lights hung, and
proceeded while devising my own way", but I'm not sure about what いかにもついでに and
ような means in this context.

I think those two parts, いかにもついでに and ような, are not linked in a single form. As
for いかにもついでに, I know the single words いかにも and ついでに, but I'm not really sure
about what they mean in this case.

For context, the character is trying to find her way to the surface, and after
finding a service tunnel and opening it by thawing some ice, there is not sign
she dug any passage; there is not much added by the text, as far as I
understand, since one chapter ended with the character entering the tunnel,
and the next started with:

> 右、右、左、上、左ちょっと下って、また上へ。
>
> 迷路のような入り組んだトンネルを私は黙々と進んでいく。

followed by the sentence I'm unsure about.

All in all, my guess is:

  * the paths in questions aren't dug by the character, but they are already there
  * いかにも is linked to 無視, meaning she is _completely_ ignoring those paths; or maybe is linked to ついでに掘った, reinforcing it
  * ついでに is linked to 掘った, and adds a sense like those paths were dug incidentally, while digging the main path
  * ような means "ignoring the path _that looked like_ they were dug incidentally", so is how the character perceives them, rather than an objective fact

but I'm not really sure.




You should parse it this way.

> ［いかにも［ついでに掘った］ような］［細い道］

ついでに indeed modifies 掘った. Digging those narrow paths was (apparently) not the
main purpose of whoever dug them. I have never known how to accurately
translate ついでに. I am not sure if "incidentally" conveys its nuances
completely.

ついでに掘った細い道 would mean that the speaker knows for a fact that the paths were
dug in such a manner.

ような indicates that it is the speaker's perception that the paths are such.

いかにも further adds the sense that that perception is obvious from the
appearance of the paths.

So the character ignored narrow paths that obviously looked like they had been
dug only as secondary purposes of whoever dug all those tunnels.




You should parse it this way.

> ［いかにも［ついでに掘った］ような］［細い道］

ついでに indeed modifies 掘った. Digging those narrow paths was (apparently) not the
main purpose of whoever dug them. I have never known how to accurately
translate ついでに. I am not sure if "incidentally" conveys its nuances
completely.

ついでに掘った細い道 would mean that the speaker knows for a fact that the paths were
dug in such a manner.

ような indicates that it is the speaker's perception that the paths are such.

いかにも further adds the sense that that perception is obvious from the
appearance of the paths.

So the character ignored narrow paths that obviously looked like they had been
dug only as secondary purposes of whoever dug all those tunnels.

