Origin of Phrases - B
Beyond the pale
Meaning: Unacceptable, outside agreed standards of decency.
Example: Nixon's handling of the Watergate scandal was beyond the pale for a President.
Origin: The "pale" derives from paling which means fence. Fences are erected to define boundaries. To be "beyond the pale" implies that one is outside of defined boundaries.
Similar to fences are walls. In the days when walled cities were common in Europe people who behaved unacceptably were sometimes exiled or banished from the community and sent to live outside the walls.
More particularly, the "pale" was a fence around the English controlled part of Ireland around Dublin. Beyond the Pale was how the English referred to the badlands outside English control.