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Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

nothing extenuating

English answer:

nothing to belittle or to disparage; older use:Nothing extenuating, and setting down naught in malice’

Added to glossary by Stephanie Ezrol
Jan 23, 2010 14:57
14 yrs ago
English term

nothing extenuating

English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature
No pilgrim from "the States" should visit the city of London without carrying two books: a Baedeker's "London" and Hutton's "Literary Landmarks." The chief advantage of the former is that it is bound in flaming red, and carried in the hand, advertises the owner as an American, thus saving all formal introductions. In the rustle, bustle and tussle of Fleet Street, I have held up my book to a party of Americans on the opposite sidewalk, as a ship runs up her colors, and they, seeing the sign, in turn held up theirs in merry greeting; and we passed on our way without a word, ships that pass in the afternoon and greet each other in passing. Now, I have no desire to rival the flamboyant Baedeker, nor to eclipse my good friend Laurence Hutton. But as I can not find that either mentions the name "Rossetti," I am going to set down (not in malice) the places in London that are closely connected with the Rossetti family, nothing extenuating.
Responses
3 nothing to belittle or to disparage
3 +2 …and I’m not going to excuse what I’m doing!
4 if nothing prevents (me)
References
nothing not being cared for
Change log

Jan 23, 2010 14:57: changed "Kudoz queue" from "In queue" to "Public"

Jan 24, 2010 13:06: Stephanie Ezrol Created KOG entry

Feb 5, 2010 03:06: Stephanie Ezrol changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/1092290">Stephanie Ezrol's</a> old entry - "nothing extenuating"" to ""nothing to belittle or to disparage; older use:Nothing extenuating, and setting down naught in malice’ ""

Discussion

British Diana Jan 24, 2010:
with Annett I agree with Annett. The rule was introduced so that people all over the world would have a chance to contribute, whether they live in Europe, the Americas or Asia and the Pacific.
Shirley, you must keep the question open for at least 24 hours to give everyone a chance to suggest an answer and to vote for the answers provided.
This particular question would have benefitted from having more time for discussion entries, as it was not at all straightforward.
Annett Kottek (X) Jan 24, 2010:
@ Shirley I find your practice of closing question less than 24H after they have been posted alienating. The KudoZ rules for asking clearly state that you should allow sufficient time for responses to be made. If you deny peers the opportunity to comment on any contributions, you compromise not only the quality of this forum, but also your own work.

See also: http://www.proz.com/?sp=siterules&mode=show&category=kudoz_a...
Carol Gullidge Jan 23, 2010:
odd! This is strange, as the piece is very well written, yet I can't make out what is meant by 'extenuating' here! certainly not the usual dictionary meaning... (palliating). Nothing too exhaustive, perhaps??? Perhaps there's a clue elsewhere in the context?

Responses

13 hrs
Selected

nothing to belittle or to disparage

This is an older, and now obsolete usage of the word extenuating.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009

There is also a longer phrase, "nothing extenuating, and setting down naught in malice" which is what I think the author is drawing upon, and which his readers would have recognized.

He means to not disparage or belittle, nor express malice towards the other 2 guidebooks he just praised.

Here are three examples of that older usage:

"It paints both slaveholder and slave, and none can doubt the intention of the author to deal justly with both, nothing extenuating and setting down naught in malice. "
US. 1852. Boston Post Review
http://www.proz.com/kudoz/3657163?bs=1#marker_submit

"For two months I have been journeying in the unreconstructed States. I have swung amund the circle through Louisville, Memphis, Jackson, (Mississippi,) New-Orlcans, Mobile, Montgomery. Atlanta, Augusta, Savannah, Charleston, Raleigh and Richmond, and have written my impressions from day to day, nothing extenuating or setting aught down in malice"
USA. New York Times. 1868

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9905EFDF1730E...

I shall try to make my report as purely narrative as possible - of what I saw and heard, nothing extenuating, and setting down naught in malice.
1868/1881 London
Life in the London Streets, by Richard Rowe, 1881
http://www.victorianlondon.org/publications/lifein-25.htm
Peer comment(s):
neutral Annett Kottek (X) : Great find! But ‘nothing extenuating, and setting down naught in malice’ surely refers to ‘I am going to set down’, i.e. the author himself and his representation of the family. It’s his promise to produce a faithful record. I don’t follow your reasoning.
5 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "thank you! "
7 mins

if nothing prevents (me)

the same as "except in / save extenuating circumstances". In http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu: partially excusing or justifying "extenuating circumstances".
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+2
1 hr

…and I’m not going to excuse what I’m doing!

I think this author’s being playful again. As neither Baedeker nor Hutton mention the Rosetti family's London stay in their works, one could infer that they believed the Rossettis to be of only minor importance. The opinion of those two authors must have carried some weight in his day, as he claims that his work could not rival theirs [‘I have no desire to rival’]. (N.B. This is most likely to be mock modesty - - a common rhetorical strategy). But our author believes that the Rosetti family is worthy of attention and so he will write about them (thereby righting their previous omission from the records), but he’s not going to justify his decision by explaining why he thinks that the Rossetti family is import and their stay should be documented. His ostensive reason for writing about the family’s stay in London is that no one has done so before, no other excuse. Another way of putting it is might be, he’s not going to beg the reader’s indulgence.

Synonyms for extenuate are ‘making allowances’; ‘embellish’; ‘mitigate’


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Note added at 1 hr (2010-01-23 16:37:18 GMT)
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I'm very sorry, I just found 2 typos. It should read 'why he thinks that the Rossetti family is **important**'; and 'way of putting it might be'.

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Note added at 19 hrs (2010-01-24 10:28:25 GMT) Post-grading
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‘Nothing extenuating, and setting down naught in malice’
In light of Stephanie's contribution I would now interpret 'nothing extenuating' as being the author's promise to produce an accurate (fair) record of the family's stay in London. He will not write 'in malice', i.e. nothing that will be damage the family's reputation (making them guilty), nor anything 'extenuating', i.e. nothing that will excuse their actions (making them innocent). In other words, he'll just produce facts.

More examples of usage:
‘With this introduction, I will, as briefly as may be, relate my experiences, nothing extenuating, and setting down naught in malice.’
http://psp.manybooks.net/books/eastmane2716427164-8/2


‘…if he would draw a fair portrait of its present inhabitants, nothing extenuating and setting down naught in malice, but representing fairly’
http://books.google.com/books?id=z7Q6AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA286&lpg=P...
Peer comment(s):
agree Thayenga : Exactly! Extenuate means to lessen the seriousness of any deed by making excuses. :)
1 hr
Thanks, Thayenga.
agree British Diana : This is brilliant! Thanks for educating me, Annett !
14 hrs
Thank you very much, Diana. It turns out that the original expression ‘nothing extenuating, and setting down naught in malice’ is legal jargon which, very roughly translated, means 'in the service of truth'.
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Reference comments

28 mins
Reference:

nothing not being cared for

Is this perhaps what you were looking for Shirley?

Reason to declare mitigationg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extenuating_circumstances

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Note added at 1 day1 min (2010-01-24 14:58:57 GMT) Post-grading
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Yes, and that is not the same as to say that he will not allow mitigation reason.

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Note added at 1 day6 hrs (2010-01-24 21:36:21 GMT) Post-grading
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Dear Annett and Diana

I think there is no reason to scold Shirley. The question is, when does a question really close?

Kind regards
Lisbeth

PS and I a everso sorry but due to my ongoing abuse of proZ, I cannot reply to you in the appropriate boxes, but I hope this reaches you nevertheless.
Peer comments on this reference comment:
agree Annett Kottek (X) : Sorry, I don't understand 'nothing not being cared for', but I think we are talking about the same thing: he will not give mitigating reasons.
1 hr
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