beyond the pale outside the bounds of acceptable behaviour.

☞ A pale (from Latin palus meaning 'a stake') is a pointed wooden post used with others to form a fence; from this it came to refer to any fenced enclosure. So, in literal use, beyond the pale meant the area beyond a fence. The term Pale was applied to various territories under English control and especially to the area of Ireland under English jurisdiction before the 16th century. The earliest reference (1547) to the Pale in Ireland as such draws the contrast between the English Pale and the 'wyld Irysh': the area beyond the pale would have been regarded as dangerous and uncivilized by the English.