That might be a better word to use for it, sure. A friend of mine was telling me about cleaning his kitchen since his sister and mom were coming over, and their kitchens are “pristine.” I know pristine is a good thing, but I was thinking geez, they must be pretty anal. That probably has more to do with my beef with super-neat people, me being a colossal slob and all, but for some reason, if he had described it any other way, perhaps said “Their kitchens are completely free of any dirt,” it wouldn’t have struck me that way.
Their minds are pristine of knowledge.
I think of pristine as positive, but what about in the above sentence? I might consider the word to have a negative connotation if it was used often in such circumstances.
English being English, I can believe that it’s possible that it could have a negative connotation. But I can’t think of one and the examples already offered in the thread have all been positive.
Btw, did your musing come from this article? I assumed it did, but maybe its just coincidence.
Otara
The word is misused. Nothing is ever “pristine of” anything.
Interestingly, I thought this discussion would be about buying something from eBay that was described as in pristine condition, but clearly was not, and an argument with the seller ensued.
No, this musing was spawned from a drunk dial I was having with my friend. Cracked is wrong, btw. “Spotless” or “as good as new” are acceptable uses of the term “pristine.” So says Webster, whose definitions I trust over cracked’s. Cracked is directly responsible for a lot of neglected work around here, but they are mistaken.
But by that rationale, couldn’t any word be positive or negative? You could say “Oh, dumb move from such a smart person,” but I don’t think smart becomes negative just because someone used it sarcastically.
He was accusing her of being a virgin - which she found quite insulting, being a 16 year old girl. Her next line doesn’t address the sarcasm or finger gesture, but is, “I’m not *that *pristine!”
Yes, he was being sarcastic, but the context gives an ugly connotation to “pristine”.