The "sallow Jackson" meme (@Knowledge of Self). (1) The quote "His complexion was sallow and unhealthy; his hair iron-gray, his body emaciated, like one just…

SUMMARYThe "sallow Jackson" meme (@Knowledge of Self). (1) The quote "His complexion was sallow and unhealthy; his hair iron-gray, his body emaciated, like one just recovering from a lingering and painful sickness" describes Jackson arriving at New Orleans, Dec 1814, while he was ill (dysentery); it is usually traced to Alexander Walker, Jackson and New Orleans (1856). Source to confirm. In context, "sallow" = the sick color. (2) The etymology (Skeat: sallow < Old English salu; cognate Old High German salo "tawny"; "tan, or tawney, is the colour of the chestnut") is real, but it chains two dictionary hops; rule 7 applies: a word's origin is not the word's meaning in 1814. (3) Left image: Charles Willson Peale's 1819 portrait of Yarrow Mamout (a Muslim elder of Georgetown, freed). Right image: captioned as Peale's 1819 Jackson (Masonic Library and Museum of Pennsylvania); confirm that the image shown is the Peale and not an Earl portrait. Same painter, same year: Peale painted dark skin when he saw it, which cuts against "swarthy Jackson." Verdict on "swarthy": Disputed, leaning no. Side receipt: Jackson was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee (1822-24), Record; the portrait hangs in a Masonic museum.