Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
For some six centuries, the English word “sallow,†derived from a Teutonic root for dirty, has denominated a brownish-yellow color. It is almost always employed to describe a skin hue, more specifically a tint of the face. Friar Laurence in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet uses “sallow†in just this way when he remarks on Romeo’s sudden change of affection:
Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here!
Is Rosaline, whom thou didst love so dear,
So soon forsaken? young men’s love then lies
Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.
Jesu Maria, what a deal of brine
Hath wash’d thy sallow cheeks for Rosaline!
In modern English we usually see “sallow†conjoined to “complexion†or one of its synonyms.
So what’s with all the examples of “shallow complexion†on the web? The sheer quantity of these slips should qualify “shallow/sallow†as a required entry in writing guides – yet I can find a reference to the slip on only one web page and in only one book indexed by Google Books.
It is possible that the slip is an eggcorn. The color of a healthy cheek is traditionally red/pink, and reddish hues are often part of “deep†color schemes, so a shallow complexion would lack the reds associated with health. A shallow/sallow cheek has no glow underneath.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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