Beyond the paIe - a common phrase?

Jace

Jace

Well-known Member
It seems lately I've been hearing the phrase "beyond the paIe"...

Have you?
 

Lavinia said:
Pale refers to a boundary fence (in case you didn't know).
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yes , we used to climb the Palings when we were kids rather than walk the long way home from the park

antique-black-wrought-iron-fence-600w-739474285.jpg



... it's fortunate we were never impaled as my uncle had been when he was a child.
 
"Pale" also refers to an area where certain actions or groups are allowed to exist. The Pale of Settlement was an area in old Russia in which the Jews were allowed to live and do business, officially without persecution (but we know how THAT worked out). Go "beyond the Pale" and there are no protections.

There was also a "pale" in Ireland in the late middle ages that was under the control of England.
 
My dad, born in a sod house on the Montana prairie, had a couple of old farm sayings that I (ahem) never use, but he obviously loved ...
"Faster than a striped assed ape." and "Built like a brick shithouse."
While on the subject of bad taste, and not exactly a saying, there was an inscription on the wall of a Yellowstone Men's Room that makes me smile ...
"Here I sit broken hearted, ran a mile and only farted".
 
Catherine the Great (Russia) was supposedly fond of this expression to refer to the foreigners that were in a
designated area.
'We can't have these foreigners spreading wild ideas like freedom, equality... keep them beyond the fence (pale) .'

Beyond the pale, became a expression a Russian could apply to other Russians that he disagreed with, shortly it became a
'loaded' phrase in Czar's Russia-used to depict a Russian that was probably dangerous in his political ideas.

(Yep, carry the secret police on down to Ivan's place and lock his up, he's done gone beyond the pale.)
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I've never heard the expression "beyond the pale".
@hollydolly looks like a fence you could have really hurt yourself on if it wasn't climbed just right. šŸ„¶
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yes you're right lol... we had to be verrrry careful.... My uncle when he was a kid climbed over the palings and one paling went straight through his shin, he was left hanging on the fence for hours before they could pry him off :eek:...but kids are kids and we had no fear then
 
hollydolly said:
yes you're right lol... we had to be verrrry careful.... My uncle when he was a kid climbed over the palings and one paling went straight through his shin, he was left hanging on the fence for hours before they could pry him off :eek:...but kids are kids and we had no fear then
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1960's (I think) Life Magazine last page used to carry photo's of public interest.
So, they printed a photo of a young adult male who had been walking on a icy sidewalk.

There was a eight foot high iron fence that bordered the sidewalk with the tops sharpened to deter intruders.
On a icy day, a young adult male was walking on the sidewalk, he clutched the top of the fence to maintain his balance.

You guessed it, :oops:he slipped impaling his hand on the iron spike of the fence; there he hung like a chicken in a Chinese Butcher shop.
The police were there, but they were making no effort to get the young man off the fenceā˜¹ļø
 
I remember hearing the character, "Sheldon," from The Big Bang Theory use, "Beyond the Pale," and I may have used it in the last couple years, but I don't know how much of a hold it still has in the common vanacular. Personally, I like its clarity and oldworld style. It's a nicer way of saying, "over the line, gone too far, etc."

I also like, "It is what it is," at least as far as I have used and heard it used. To me it usually refers not to a question, but a situation. The implication being that there's no point in worrying over something that cannot be changed.

I think, given that answer in response to an open question (which does have optional endings), I might feel differently, however.
 
Origin of Beyond the Pale...

"Catherine the Great created the Pale of Settlement in Russia in 1791. This was the name given to the western border region of the country, in which Jews were allowed to live. The motivation behind this was to restrict trade between Jews and native Russians. Some Jews were allowed to live, as a concession, 'beyond the pale'."

https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/beyond-the-pale.html#:~:text=So to be 'beyond the,Jews were allowed to live.

"Life in the Pale for many was economically bleak. Most people relied on small service or artisan work that could not support the number of inhabitants, which resulted in emigration, especially in the late 19th century."

"The concentration of Jews in the Pale, coupled with Tsar Alexander III's "fierce hatred of the Jews", and the rumors that Jews had been involved in the assassination of his father Tsar Alexander II, made them easy targets for pogroms and anti-Jewish riots by the majority population. These, along with the repressive May Laws, often devastated whole communities. Though attacks occurred throughout the existence of the Pale, particularly devastating anti-Jewish pogroms occurred from 1881 to 1883 and from 1903 to 1906, targeting hundreds of communities, assaulting thousands of Jews, and causing considerable property damage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_of_Settlement

My step-father's mother witnessed a pogrom when she was about four. Drunk idiots would ride through towns on horseback and just slash people (including to death) with swords.
 
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