Consider the contempt for the related word prude, which has no positive connotations whatsoever. Prudery, prudence, prudent: each in today’s usage suggests a narrow-minded, slim-souled, hand-wringing Pollyanna. (Being of a certain age, I can’t hear any of these words without remembering Dana Carvey on Saturday Night Live imitating George H. W. Bush saying, “Wouldn’t be prudent!”)
