I just started reading Alice Wexler's Emma Goldman: An Intimate Life and discovered the origin of the phrase "beyond the pale." Emma Goldman was born in Russia where during the late 18th and early 19th century Jews were forced to live within the Pale of Settlement. Within the Pale they were denied economic, social and literal mobility. Upon reading that description I began to wonder if that was the derivation of the phrase and lo
The expression beyond the pale, meaning outside the bounds of acceptable behaviour, came much later. The idea behind it was that civilisation stopped at the boundary of the pale and beyond lay those who were not under civilised control and whose behaviour therefore was not that of a gentleman.Also, in hot pursuit of one of my goals in life--coining a phrase or term--I became very excited
when I thought I had invented cubiclism...which is, of course, cubicle art. A google search turns up only 13 results which leads me to believe that I have de facto invented cubiclism. In any case, the definition I would attach to cublicism is not art intended for the cublicle but rather art created from and inside of the cublicle. Think paper clips, post it notes, staples, stamps and otherwise. I have some abstract post-it art that I think will exemplify what it is I am looking for. I think I will create a cubliclism blog and ask for entries!Lastly for your viewing pleasure:
3 comments:
i have never heard "beyond the pale" used to mean unacceptable behavior, and had only ever heard it refer to those irish dissidents that rebelled against british rule,which according to your link, is one of its applications, tho i didnt realize the definition of "pale" and always thought it just refered to how freaking pale faced and pasty irish people can be, especially those economically destitute irishmen whose only nutrition comes from a guiness...
bridget o'flynn, when i was doing my report on the easter uprising, i explained to you that the "pale" was the counties in ireland and that the concept of living within or outside of the bounds of the pale was first established in ireland in the 1300s and was later used to refer to the situation in russia and even later used to refer to those trying to escape the rule of a hegemonic impearlist prescence and then finally to refer to those who shirk authority and rule of law. jeepers.
pale is the new tan
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