What do you think of the word "sallow"?

[Corolla]

I have what I would consider sallow skin, by which I mean sort of the yellow side of olive! I don't think of "sallow" as a complimentary word.

Yet recently I've come across it being used in a flattering sense, eg "beautiful sallow skin". How do you interpret it?

Scottish here and would also see it as a compliment. Picture someone with a light golden tan. Doesn't burn in the sun - a non celtic skintone among all the peely wally folk

@TeaAndTrifle

This is enlightening! I vividly remember buying a new foundation at a couple of years ago and an Irish woman at Mac said I had sallow skin which made me feel a bit One of my parents is Middle Eastern so I have light olive skin. Ever since then I thought she meant I look a bit sickly and yellow - not in a good way.

No, that was a compliment and meant meant she didn’t have to suggest a green primer to tune down ruddiness!

@GrumpyHoonMain I'm 56.

Can anyone think of other words which could have completely opposite meanings depending on where you come from?

[quote Corolla]@GrumpyHoonMain I'm 56.

Can anyone think of other words which could have completely opposite meanings depending on where you come from?[/quote]
I suppose there’s ‘homely’ — which can be a derogatory term for an unattractive appearance, or mean cosy and pleasant in an interior, depending on which variety of English you speak.

A friend once described me as swarthy when she meant sallow. I don't take either as a compliment. My skin is a pale olive, completely English heritage but often mistaken for Mediterranean.

[quote Corolla]@GrumpyHoonMain I'm 56.

Can anyone think of other words which could have completely opposite meanings depending on where you come from?[/quote]
Canny in the NE means a nice person, not someone who is tight with their cash

I can just see a thread ‘MIL just called me sallow. Aibu to go nc?’ translations and nationalities would be needed to maintain family ties potentially.

I wouldn’t take it as a compliment but neither would I take it as an insult just meaning looking tired/washed out

A little St Tropez helps when I’m looking sallow

CeeCee Londoner here - only ever thought of canny as a compliment. Canny lass. Kind of smart/streetwise and attractive - mix of all. Never thought it meant tight.

I’m a Londoner too and thought canny meant sharp/shrewd with money in a business way

[quote Corolla]@GrumpyHoonMain I'm 56.

Can anyone think of other words which could have completely opposite meanings depending on where you come from?[/quote]
Bungalow in India refers to a big house or mansion.

Irish here, and it would be an enviable description of someone with an olive tone who would tan well as opposed to fry up with pink ears and knees like the rest of us. We light-haired frecklies would refer to someone dark eyed and dark haired who might be paler in winter would take a tan without going puce as sallow, and it is not intended with any negative connotation.

No it says sickly and slightly yellow to me. Not something nice I'm afraid OP!

A bit yellow and pale in an ill looking way

On holiday in India I developed an obsession with the Arranged Marriages small ads section. I thought ‘homely’ meant what it does in America: plain or at best jolie-laide. It actually means a homebird type I think.

On MN I learnt that “You look very well” is not a compliment and I’m still WTF about that, because it definitely is.

@HeronLanyon

CeeCee Londoner here - only ever thought of canny as a compliment. Canny lass. Kind of smart/streetwise and attractive - mix of all. Never thought it meant tight.

Canny here is more of a personality thing than a physical thing. Nice is probably too tame, a thoroughly lovely person who goes out of their way for you, that sort of thing. Definitely nothing to do with being streetwise up here. It can be used instead of very too e.g. "that's a canny good pint hinny" 😂

I'm Irish and when I first came to England totally confused my English OH w this one (he has a lovely sallow complexion and tans really well). Def a compliment in Ireland.

Yes also told in Ireland I had 'lovely dark eyes' by my dad's side, my mom's side (Asian) very disappointed that my eyes are so dark brown - 'your dad has blue eyes! How did this happen!' Am 'sallow' to dad's side and very, very lightskinned to my mom's

I'm also in Scotland and I often hear it used to mean the person has a more olive skin tone that would tan easily

Where in Scotland are the people who think it's a compliment? I'm a 50 something in Glasgow and I've never heard that before.

I've always been described as having sallow skin. I'm pale olive skin tone & tan easily but I do look grey if I'm under the weather. Never regarded it as an insult, just a descriptive word for my skin tone.

It means jaundiced to me. Anne Boleyn was described unfavourably to tarnish her retrospectively, she was said to be sallow.

Yes, to anyone who's been described as 'sallow' by an Irish person -- it is genuinely not a racial slur or a suggestion that you look sickly or jaundiced, but a wholly approving indication of your skin being likely to tan and not looking like corned beef.

I always thought it meant a sickly pale yellow, like mild jaundice.

Adding Joey Bettany to the Edwardian “is sallow a euphemism for Anglo Indian?” literary heroine list. From memory she’s also described as having jet black hair, and her complexion contrasted (although not unfavourably) with her sister’s.