[Alex Murphy]

The expression is properly beyond the pale. It means an action that is regarded as outside the limits of acceptable behaviour, which is unacceptable or improper. A classic example is in The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, dated 1837: “I look upon you, sir, as a man who has placed himself beyond the pale of society, by his most audacious, disgraceful, and abominable public conduct”. The earliest example known is from A Compleat History of Rogues of 1720.

Thread posted in response to this comment made earlier today on another thread...

...“beyond the pale” is a direct anti-Catholic referrence....

My own familiarity with the phrase began with this Kerry Livgren-penned song, which is why I took it to be religious (but not anti-Catholic):

BEYOND THE PALE
Words and music by Michael Gleason and Kerry Livgren
from the Kerry Livgren/AD album Timeline (1983)

Beginning again, as if for the first time
New melodies, a changing of season

I want you to know me
but not as I've been

(Chorus)
Remember me, not as you see
As I will be, not as I am
Beyond the pale, no fairy tale
The lion lies down with the lamb

I look in your eyes, a great gulf between us
I'll be your friend, but never keep silent

I want you to know me,
But not as I've been

(Chorus)

(Bridge)
Sharing the love that I've found
Give it a chance to turn our lives around
As I've received I'm willing to give

(Chorus)

Related thread:
Party song seen as having anti-Catholic overtones [The "Hokey-Pokey" - that's what it's all about!]

[Lorianne]

Thanks, this website is a good reference!

[RegulatorCountry]

An Pháil, beyond the Pale of Settlement, in Ireland, referring to the areas outside of English control.

[cornelis]

Beyond the Pale

More here.

[autumnraine]

“’BEYOND THE PALE’ - What does it mean?”

It means Sean Hannity is on again. And I’ll have to hear it 14 times before I change the channel.

[I Buried My Guns]

The phrase I learned (and almost forgotten) was “beyond the pale of settlement”, which meant beyond the area that the czarina invited German families to settle in western Russia.

[blackminorca]

Another derivation explains the concentration of Jews in Ukraine and Poland - they were thrown out of Russia by the Tsar.

“When pales or palings are put together they are used to form a fence, or an enclosure. But this saying comes from what is known as “The Jewish Pale of Settlement” which was coined by the Russian Czar - Nicholas I, and meant that Russian Jews were confined to live in a specific area...

In reality this area incorporated Poland and the Ukraine. Laws were first passed in 1795, then in 1835 Nicholas I enforced them, so that by 1897, it is estimated that there were more than 5 million Jews living within the Pale. But around that time, the Pogroms developed – another anti-Semitic action, which aimed to drive the Jews “Beyond the Pale”... So the irony is that, first they forced the Jews to live within the Pale, and then they forced them beyond the Pale.”

It also explains why the Kremlin has been fond of stirring trouble between Jews and Poles and Ukrainians - to deflect attention away from the genocide of the Kremlin. Thus, Russophiles blame the Holodomor on the Jews, they forge papers to accuse Demjanjuk of killing Jews, and they come up with Operation Vistula and Katyn to divide Poles and Ukrainians.

http://www.iwp.edu/news/newsID.139/news_detail.asp