canny granny

If you meet someone who is unacceptably coarse, rowdy and vulgar, you can easily say he is beyond the pale and swear never to speak to him again.

The pale here, depending on which side you’re on, is the English Pale or the Irish Pale.

The term appeared during the 14th century, in the areas in Ireland which were ruled by the English and were regarded (by the English) as the last outposts of civilisation. The border was marked by a fence of pointed sticks, the Pale.

Beyond stretched a land of barbarism, stubbornly resistant to the genteel influence of English culture. So anyone who behaved in a socially unacceptable way was beyond the pale.

The Irish had another view of the matter entirely. But this post is concerning the use of the term ‘beyond the pale‘ not about 800 years of occupation.