Idiom
Beyond the pale
If behavior is beyond the pale, it is so rude, shocking or unfair that most people find it completely unacceptable.
How people use it
People use it to mark a line that should not be crossed: "Teasing is fine, but mocking his grief was beyond the pale." It is stronger than "rude" or "out of line" and sounds a little formal, so you see it in opinion columns, reviews and serious conversations. It usually describes actions, remarks or ideas, though people sometimes say a person is beyond the pale. Watch the spelling: it is "pale," an old word for a boundary, not "pail," the bucket. It has nothing to do with looking pale.
Also said: go beyond the pale, outside the pale.
Examples
- Arguing about the bill is normal, but yelling at the waiter was beyond the pale.
- The coach said that cheating on the fitness test was beyond the pale for any team member.
- Some readers felt the critic's attack on the young author's family went beyond the pale.
Where it comes from
A "pale" was a pointed wooden stake, from the Latin palus, then a fence made of stakes, and later the area inside such a boundary. In the late Middle Ages, the region around Dublin under direct English control was called the Pale, and many sources link the idiom to it. However, "beyond the pale" is not recorded until the 1600s, and other pales existed too. So the Irish connection is possible but not proven; the basic idea is simply "outside the fence of what is acceptable."
Check yourself
1. If a teacher says a student's comment was beyond the pale, what does she mean?
Answer: It was totally unacceptable. Beyond the pale describes behavior that crosses the line of what people will accept.
2. Which spelling is correct for this idiom?
Answer: beyond the pale. Pale here is an old word for a fence or boundary, so it is not spelled like the bucket.
Similar idioms
Word game fan? See every word hiding in PALE.