04/09/2006 May Day - Research (Part 3)

“Her name is Jewel Hudson," went on the distressed voice from the bed. "She used to be 'pure,' I guess, up to about a year ago” (page 66).

Sterrett refers to Jewel as pure in a virginal sense, meaning she was free of sin. The use of the word ‘pure’ to describe someone without sin was first recorded in the mid-fourteenth century[1]. This slang use of the word as since fallen out of style since Fitzgerald published “May Day” in 1922. The American Heritage Dictionary defines this use of pure as,

“Having no faults; sinless”
and
“Chaste; virgin”[2].

As far as slang goes, I had never heard the word ‘pure’ used in this respect until I read “May Day”.


Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “May Day”. Tales of the Jazz Age. First Pine Street Books: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2003.
[1] Etymology Dictionary
[2] American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.