What is the origin of "beyond the pale"?

Search: beyond the pale

Why: Some guy on "Which Way, LA?" said the White House shouldn't be afraid to call the ridiculous claims of teadouchebaggers "beyond the pale."

And in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, when Potiphar catches his wife trying to get up on Joe, he says:

Joseph, I'll see you rot in jail!
The things you have done are beyond the pale

Answer: A "pale" is an old name for a pointed stake driven into the ground - or a barrier made of such stakes, like a fence. (The modern word pole is from the same source, as is impale.) Around 1400, the word was used figuratively as a defense, safeguard, barrier, enclosure, or limit beyond which it was not permissible to go. Certain English dialects still use "pale" to describe an enclosed area.

The term was particularly used to describe various defended enclosures of territory inside other countries, like Calais in France and The Pale in Ireland.

The first use of the phrase was in The History of Polindor and Flostella by Sir John Harington, written around 1612.

Both Dove-like roved forth beyond the pale
To planted Myrtle-walk

Except this isn't really relevant as it's literal, not figurative.

The first figurative use was in an English translation of The Golden Legende. Here, the phrase meant an area of interest or knowledge - sort of like how we use "field."

Source: World Wide Words

The More You Know: In The Pickwick Papers (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.

PS - 800th post AUTHENTICALLY posted at 8:00:00 - I didn't even change it. Swear.