I want a list of all PDF files, excluding file names ending in "_nobackup.pdf" or "_nobackup.PDF", and don't even look in folders ending in "_nobackup".
After -prune there must be -o (or, otherwise) in order to continue with files or non-pruned directories. Then if not a directory and name ends with pdf and name does not have _nobackup then print. The print must be there, otherwise there would be a default print also for the pruned directories.
find . -type d -name "*_nobackup" -prune -o ! -type d -name "*.[Pp][Dd][Ff]" ! -name "*_nobackup.*" -print
Of course -name "*.[Pp][Dd][Ff]" is identical with -iname "*.PDF" , but the latter is not implemented on some Unix find.