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Perfect Stranger Posted 7 years ago
Vocabulary

A little beyond the pale

Dear Users,

I've just watched a movie in which one of the characters said to another:

I think we are both a little beyond the pale

I looked this expression up in a dictionary and its defined as: outside the bounds of acceptable behavior

My questions are:

1) Is it an idiom and is it commonly used?

2) Is it used both in AmE and BrE?

3) Can it be used to describe someone who's a little crazy? (That's how it was used in the movie)

4) Why is it actually [beyond the pale] ?


Thank you!

  

Top answer

Perfect Stranger 1) Is it an idiom Effectively, yes. ) Perfect Stranger is it commonly used? In BrE it is neither particularly common nor particularly rare.

— GPY

  • Perfect Stranger 1) Is it an idiom Effectively, yes.
  • ) Perfect Stranger is it commonly used?
  • In BrE it is neither particularly common nor particularly rare.
  • Perfect Stranger 3) Can it be used to describe someone who's a little crazy?
  • No, not as far as I am aware -- only in the indirect sense that the behaviour of someone a little crazy might be outside the bounds of what is normally acceptable.
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2 Answers
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Perfect Stranger1) Is it an idiom

Effectively, yes. (Originally it had a literal meaning.)

Perfect Strangeris it commonly used?

In BrE it is neither particularly common nor particularly rare.

Perfect Stranger3) Can it be used to describe someone who's a little crazy?

No,

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Perfect Stranger1) Is it an idiom and is it commonly used?

Yes, it's an idiom. It's is not used a lot, but most educated English speakers know it.

Perfect Stranger2) Is it used both in AmE and BrE?

Yes.

Perfect Stranger3) Can it be used to describe someone who's a little crazy? (That's
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