It’s beyond the pale
What is? Well, the behaviour of many Members of Parliament in their expense claims for a start. But what is the origin of this strange expression?
Pale comes from the Latin ‘palum’ meaning ‘stake’. In English, it came to mean a fence around a territory which was under a particular authority, such as a cathedral pale.
By extension, this came to apply to the limit of political jurisdiction. For example, there was an English pale around the part of Ireland under English rule in the 14th century and around Calais from 1347-1558.
Life within the pale was civilised: beyond it, barbaric. Nowadays the phrase is more generally applied to any behaviour or statement of which the speaker or writer disapproves.
May 17th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
For more details see beyond the pale on the excellent website World Wide Words.