El muchacho no tiene desperdicio

Question

I just learned the word ''desperdicio''. It means ''waste'', as in a waste of time or money, or just plain waste (e.g., food scraps).

My question is about the use of the phrase ''no tener desperdicio''. The Collins Compete Spanish dictionary gives three examples of its use:

1 esta carne no tiene desperdicio: all this meat can be eaten;

2 el libro no tiene desperdicio: the book is excellent from beginning to end;

3 el muchacho no tiene desperdicio: there's very little to be said in his favour

*Why does the third phrase give the subject (el muchacho) a negative connotation, but the first two give the subject (carne, libro) a positive connotation?

Is the English translation incorrect for number 3? It seems to me that if the man ''has no waste'', that there would be very little said to his DISFAVOR.

Welcome to the forum , we want to help you so fill out your profile If you have a problem PM a mod Bienvenido al foro. Queremos ayudarle, entonces hay que llenar su perfil. Si hay un problema, envíe un mensaje personal (PM) - ray76, Feb 6, 2016

I filled in my profile (except for an avatar. The website fails every time I try to upload one, and the picture is only 1MB). - GringoenGuate, Feb 6, 2016

Good question. This site's dictionary accesses many including Collins. This is one, "no tener desperdicio - to be excellent from start to finish" - 00551866, Feb 6, 2016

Thanks for the profile , worth a vote from me mate. - ray76, Feb 6, 2016

Answer 1

I'm going to start with Andre's comment, then add my two centavos' worth.

"Good question. This site's dictionary accesses many including Collins. This is one, "no tener desperdicio - to be excellent from start to finish" - Andreknue 30 mins ago flag"

Taken literally "El muchacho no tiene desperdicio" has the meaning of there is nothing lacking with this boy. He is functioning on all eight cylinders. He's "all there", no imperfections.

Thanks. I thought something was fishy about the third Collins translation. - GringoenGuate, Feb 6, 2016