Pail or pail means a bucket--
Go and fetch a pail of water.
The farmer used a pail to feed the hogs.
Pale or pale ( rhymes with pail ) means light in color--
She turned pale when she heard the bad news.
He wanted pale green paint for the living room.
Pale is also used as a verb, meaning to lose one's color, as at an upsetting moment, or to turn pale--
She saw him pale when she mentioned it.
You can't be a hero if you pale at the thought of danger.
Now that you know that, you can say--
"Grandpa is getting old. He turns pale whenever he lifts a pail of water."
Note--pale is used to mean not as interesting or exciting--in the expression "to pale in comparison" or "to pale by comparison"--
It pales in comparison to the new model.
Note # 2--Pale or pale is an old-fashioned or archaic word for a fence or boundary made of stakes or wood pieces ( palings). It survives in the expression "beyond the pale", meaning outside of what is acceptable or decent behavior; or otherwise "beyond the limits"--
Using foul language in public really is beyond the pale.
Note # 3--"paled" is the past tense ( yesterday, or some time ago ) of the verb ( action word ) "pale", meaning to turn pale--
She paled noticeably whenever anyone mentioned his name.
Not to be confused with "pallid" ( pronounced pal lid ) , meaning very pale, literally, or lifeless, figuratively--
He had such a pallid complexion that she wondered if he was a vampire.
The performance was pallid and uninspired.
Words that sound the same when we speak may actually be two different words--which matters when we write them down. Spellcheck cannot help with this--it will show each word and the writer has to choose--to disambiguate them, if you will. I intend to update this daily, with another set of words it is possible to confuse, beginning with the simplest and most important. Questions and comments are welcome.
Showing posts with label beyond the pale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beyond the pale. Show all posts
Monday, October 31, 2011
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