[extra88]

We can't all be either Funk or Wagnalls. This is the first I've ever seen an origin explained.

This [0] explanation describes a couple of definitions of "pale," a fence or a sort of political boundary with the Pale of Dublin as an example. It says "to be 'beyond the pale' was to be outside the area accepted as 'home' (outside the paling fence around one's home) and the first printed use was clearly using this sense.

I don't question whether anyone ever used "beyond the pale" in a negative way towards people in parts of Ireland but it clearly wasn't, and isn't, the exclusive meaning of the phrase.

Let's not discard something just because someone, somewhere used it in a bad way (he wrote with '88' in his username). To verb a noun, let's not swastika the phrase "beyond the pale."

[0] https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/beyond-the-pale.html