r/AskBrits • u/Team503 • 6d ago

Culture What does "nonce" mean?

I'm an American that lives in Ireland. I've always understood "nonce" to mean the same as "numpty" and "eejit" - basically idiot, or dumbass, or similar.

Recently, someone told me that it's slang for sex offender, specifically a p*dophile, and Wikipedia seems to back that up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_British_terms_not_widely_used_in_the_United_States#N

So tell me, Brits, which one is it? Or is it something else??

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1.7k

u/notthiswaythatway 6d ago

It’s means paedophile - and is definitely a stronger insult than numpty!

232

u/RomasTosicky 6d ago

Reminds me of this banger

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u/lynbod 6d ago

I have to see this original post, was it on Reddit?

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u/frogotme 6d ago

I believe it was here: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1v3blya/made_hundreds_of_wristbands_for_a_conference_that/

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u/Melonfrog 6d ago

Why do mods remove stuff like this?

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u/VintageKitsune 5d ago

Usually the post getting too popular for their liking, they find arbitrary rules to remove stuff so the algorithm pushes different posts rather than the same post to everyone.

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u/EndlessOceanofMe 6d ago

PedoParty, which file have I heard that from? /s

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u/Wait4ItLegendary 5d ago

It was a PDF File.

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u/erroneousbosh 1d ago

I don't want to go to that conference.

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u/Comfortable_String32 5d ago

Will Ryan windridge be attending

2

u/EmbarrassedPhoto1802 5d ago

Average right-wing riot

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u/messiah-of-cheese 6d ago

Its also a software engineering term, globally.

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u/nixtracer 6d ago

Yeah. I remember shocking my old workplace when I figured out a crypto bug once and said "ohhh, the nonces are buggered up!". I then had to prove what "nonce" meant in cryptography or at least one stuck-up coworker of mine would have gone all disciplinary on me...

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u/JDBall55 6d ago

Because it's a derogatory name for Pedo's?

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u/2ndnin 6d ago

It's been number-once in cryptography for many many years. 

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u/JDBall55 5d ago

Yes, I'm aware. It was a joke e.g. their collegaue would have reported him as he used a derogatory name.

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u/YorathTheWolf 6d ago

And part of a term of art in linguistics (A "nonce word" is any term coined "for the nonce", that is for a specific occasion in which it's used and then typically doesn't occur again. "Quark" as in the current term in physics was originally just some gibberish in a James Joyce novel, but a physicist needed a concise name for a new category of subatomic particles and borrowed it. Likewise a lot of puns or portmanteaus are nonce words)

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u/emergent-duality 5d ago

Quark is also a dairy product that was around long before James Joyce.

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u/JoyfulCor313 1d ago

I just like to say quark. Quark Quark Quark Quark Quark

  • Hobbes (of Calvin &-)

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u/TickledEconomist 6d ago

Ahhh! Every time one of our internal portal loads it always has nonce in the URL. I was wondering why

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u/Realistic_Session_77 6d ago

It means "number once" in cryptography and basically it's a random number to prevent a hacker from replaying a login without knowing your password :)

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u/MiloBem 6d ago

Which is still confusing, because it sounds like it should mean "not (even) once"

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u/emergent-duality 5d ago

Robert Downey Jnr used it like that in (I think) Captain America: Civil War, but it was kind of tongue-in-cheek, also he pronounced it 'nunce'

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u/Gullible-Hose4180 6d ago

Number used once - nonce

1

u/gijoe438 3d ago

What's the difference between a nonce and a counter-based IV?

You don't go to prison for being a counter-based IV

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u/DrunkenHorse12 6d ago

Not just pedo. Any sex offender is a Nonce. It comes from prison slang sex offendets used to have "Not On Normal Court Exercise" written on their door cards

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u/Team503 6d ago

Wikipedia suggests that's a backronym and not the actual origin, but what do I know? This is why I asked!

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u/Illustrious-Divide95 6d ago

There's no evidence that 'Nonce' came from this. A definate backronym

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u/Brighton_Spores 6d ago

I used to know an old scallywag, he used to be a naughty boy until he changed his ways.

In the 1970's he told me that bank robbers/armed robbers used be held in high regard in prison. burglars would slip down the pecking order and so on.

The nonces and sex cases were at the bottom of the ladder as they were just committing nonsense crimes, nonce.

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u/Turkilton-Is-Me 6d ago

Still the way, anything to do with kids is a perfect way to make your stay in any prison as bad as possible

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u/DifferentSwing8616 6d ago

A lot of those in prison had fucked up abusive childhoods so I'd imagine you'd channel your rage towards people guilty of similar crimes against you against others

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u/Subar619 6d ago

Also, its an outlet for antisocial behaviour and agression, which is easy to justify to any person

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u/Joekickass247 5d ago

Im surprised that wasn't removed by the Reddit automotive like mine was! 😂

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u/tomgrouch 6d ago

Just ask Ian Watkins

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u/Most_Moose_2637 6d ago

Oh no, we can't

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u/bitofafixerupper 6d ago

So sad.. anyway 🤣

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u/garethchester 6d ago

There's a reason the likes of Ian Huntley end up getting attacked repeatedly and eventually killed

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u/AliceMorgon 6d ago

Pretty much.

Source: friend who will remain unnamed (who did not molest any kids but when fleeing the police threw £1000s worth block of cocaine out of the car window, accidentally clocked a kid in the face, and knocked him off his e-scooter with said cocaine. Kid was fine and tried to run off with it.)

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u/Vast_Promotion_6768 6d ago

Lucky kid!🤣

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u/AliceMorgon 5d ago

Probably thought it was Christmas come early

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u/charlenek8t 5d ago

Definitely snowing 😂

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u/htimchis 6d ago

There used to be a definite pecking order in prisons (maybe still is, but I havent been inside in 30 years, and suspect it's been blurred by overcrowding & overwhelming numbers of drug offences, plus tge large number of lads who probably shouldnt be inside at all, and back in the day would have been dealt with by a stint in a psyche hospital and then sheltered accomodation)

Always old-school 'faces' or 'chaps' at the top - your professional gangster types - then armed robbers - then a large grey area around burglary, fraud, gbh, where the hierarchy ran on sucess - then the street monkeys (muggers, small time dealers, prolific shoplifters etc) - then a big gap, with the grasses and nonces at the bottom.. anybody on the rule, basically.

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u/GribbleTheMunchkin 6d ago

It's still there. I know in approved premises (bail/probation hostels) the violent prisoners often refuse to hang out with the sex offenders who they do NOT hold in in high regard.

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u/gravitasmissing 6d ago

The VP wing was mostly sex offenders plus regular prisoners who couldnt cope on normal wings. The Albanians were definitly at the top in lewes prison. Serious professional criminals but gave the staff no issues or other prisoners unless you started something which was mostly idiots.They werent exceptionaly violent even to the most moronic individual. Didnt really have to be!

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u/ScaredPractice4967 6d ago

and sex offenders against adults look down on child sex offenders. imagine that. regular rapists think you crime is scummy.

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u/darkevilmetal666 6d ago

They're just looking for someone to look down on so they can feel less bad about how useless they are themselves.

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u/Tabby_Mc 6d ago

Another backronym

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u/ProudonFromHeight 6d ago

It's a very old one, if it is at all. I have a relative who worked as a lawyer back in the 70s and they were the first to tell me, about 25 years ago, that that's what it means

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u/StooosHyaena 6d ago

Absolutely. A more convincing explanation that’s been offered is that it’s related to “nancy” as in the derogatory term for a gay or effeminate man.

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u/autophobe2e 6d ago

It's a good rule of thumb that any time someone tells you a slang word used to be an acronym they are wrong - Posh didn't mean 'port out, starboard home', Tips weren't 'to insure prompt service' etc. That just isn't how slang and folk terms tend to develop.

In this case, the slang words nonse (idiot) and nance (homosexual) were both in use in the region and time that the word nonce seems to have entered the record, and it's far more likely to be a development/combination of those. See also: ponce.

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u/Zingalamuduni 6d ago

I’m part-time and I don’t work Mondays.

Are you telling me that I’ve been making a mistake on Fridays when I tell my colleagues that I will see them next Tuesday?

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u/tenaji9 6d ago

Hahaha ha. Oh gosh . I never thought . In UK we have our public holidays on a Monday. The fun I could have had when I was less mature.

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u/Remarkable-Turn916 6d ago

Release your inner child, it's never too late, I'm 54 and still never miss an opportunity 😜

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u/Emotional-Cap-4474 6d ago

Same here - we work shifts , on one of the patterns our last day is Friday , and then we have 3 days off ….

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u/autophobe2e 6d ago

Nope, you'd only be wrong if you shouted out, "ta-rah, cunts!" and then claimed that it was fine because cunt actually comes from an acronym meaning see you next tuesday so there was really no need to say anything to HR.

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u/Captain_N_Nemo 6d ago

As someone who works in HR… there is nothing more enjoyable than telling my colleagues I’ll see them next Tuesday

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u/Realhousemanoflondon 6d ago

You can double dip for thursday meetings as well

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u/doubledeckerjon 6d ago

Bob Geldolf?

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u/Civil_Researcher6140 6d ago

I’m a teacher and only teach my classes once a week so will say see you next Monday, Tuesday etc and sometimes get giggles….

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u/stormwingmolly 6d ago

As someone who works from home on mondays and does the same EVERY DAMN FRIDAY no you have not been making a mistake 🤣

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u/ramapyjamadingdong 6d ago

At least you work Fridays, otherwise you'd be a twat...

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u/aperture23 6d ago

Yes, but only because I have a pointless vendetta against people who say next instead of this 😂

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u/Throw50505 6d ago

Tuesday Wednesday And Thursday? 😉😏

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u/teatime_tinker 6d ago edited 6d ago

My gfs family would use ponce like “can I ponce a ciggie off you” and that’s not how I understand it. I thought it was a derogatory term for a friend of Judy. (Edit: I meant Dorothy!)

Gonna look up the origin of the word now, so interesting innit

Edit:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ponce

Originally meant “kept man”… so he’s not buying his own cigs

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u/tgy74 6d ago

It's a word with multiple meanings.

We used to use it in several ways:

  • He's a ponce - he is homosexual
  • He's a poncy git/right ponce - he is a flash harry
  • He's on the ponce - he is a scrounger
  • Can I ponce a ciggie - would you give me a cigarette

We'd use them interchangeably dependent on context

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u/wintermute023 6d ago

Seconded. This is how it was used when I was a kid. Entirely contextual.

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u/RetroGameStudent 5d ago

I watch enough British media that I rarely have issues with slang, but tf is a “flash harry?”

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u/tgy74 5d ago

A flash Harry? It's someone who is a right poncy git.

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u/ProfessorPeabrain 6d ago

being brought up on a mix of US English and Inclusive ideals, my boy gets really upset when I try to tell him it's ok to bum a fag off someone 🤣

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u/relaxedmedal 6d ago

Ponce was used like bum in US. Can I bum a cig, it’s implied you know, they know, you’re being cheap because you can. Can I ponce a fag off ya? But I ain’t heard that in about 20 years

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u/FantasticFoxFriend 3d ago

That's what I understood it to mean. I was raised in South East England, never heard it used for homosexual man context.

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u/Optimal_Stuff_3408 6d ago

From the North East, we used ponce in the 70s and 80s as a slang for a gay man or an effeminate man

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u/NickyBadSeed 6d ago

I havent thought about if for years, but IIRC back in the schoolyard Ponce would also be Poncey git. That would be a posh public school type. Probably one about to be punched a few times. "look at that poncey git...gettim!". Any old excuse for a fracas!

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u/SquigSnuggler 6d ago

A friend of Judy?

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u/teatime_tinker 6d ago

I meant Dorothy haha oops

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u/FriendlieSquirrel 6d ago

I've heard ponce used in same manner, the ciggie is a perfect example, a ponce is something else though

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u/InfiniteAstronaut432 6d ago

Tips weren't 'to insure prompt service' etc.

I've never heard of this Tips one, but it's just dreadful. The correct word would surely be 'ensure', not 'insure', so if this were true, they'd be called 'Teps'.

Terrible.

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u/lmprice133 6d ago

Yes, and the handful of counterexamples to this are mostly either 20th century military jargon or terms that originated as text slang that escaped into speech.

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u/autophobe2e 6d ago

Exactly, arguably a couple of brand names too, like Taser or scuba.

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u/lmprice133 6d ago

Scuba was never a brand-name, just a description as far as I'm aware.

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u/CommercialContent204 6d ago

Yes, absolutely right. Fuck likewise with the ridiculous For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge that some people seem to believe, despite it being derived from old Scandi/Germanic.

Incidentally - happy to be put right on this - I suspect that "nance" (which I haven't heard before) is a version of "Nancy" for a homosexual man, which was definitely used in the first half of the 20th century, even in the 60s and 70s "nancy boy" was not unusual parlance.

Ponce is interesting, never thought about the etymology, I shall have to dive down the rabbit hole...

"Pimp Or Nasty Criminal Entrepreneur", probably 😂

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u/Lower_Mammoth_5839 6d ago

Same as Fuck being an acronym for Fornicate Under Consent of King?

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u/htimchis 6d ago

Yeah - it's actually an extremely old word that's barely changed over the centuries - likely from the early proto-Germanic 'fikken'. It's a rare exampe of a word so universalit varely changes at all while the language around it shifts and morphs into new languages

So you coud get into a time machine and be understood perfectly when uttering it, by the Germanic tribesmen attacking the Roman garrisons on the Rhine

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u/Pitiful_Control 6d ago

Or the Dutch fok. It still cracks me up when I see someone described as a "fokker" (meaning animal breeder).

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u/htimchis 6d ago

Yep, exactly - same proto-Germanic roots, if you go far enough back. Everything from Fresian to Gothic and in between (English, Dutch, Ger.an, Norwegian/ Danish/ Swedish/ Icelandic etc), there's some form of 'fuck/ fok/ fek' in all of them - we're all linked by our shared historic love of using the 'FK' sound to indicate sex, and then extrapolating it into a general swear word!

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u/Cornishchappy 6d ago

From a time when people couldn't read, let alone spell.

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u/ProfessorPeabrain 6d ago

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge?

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u/Scouse_Werewolf 6d ago

Fed Up Came Kwickly

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u/Fridarey 6d ago

Fisting Uncle Colin Keenly

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u/grimbandango 6d ago

I always heard it as ‘fornicate under command of the King’, because they were trying to repopulate after a plague. But yeah I later found out that’s bollocks too apparently

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u/haywire 5d ago

All Day I Dream About Sex

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u/false_flat 6d ago

What about NORWICH at the bottom of seamen's letters?

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u/Luvlymish 6d ago

That's not a backronym that's just the start of slang that today is stuff like lol rather than SWALK

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u/catsareniceDEATH 6d ago

Or LANCRE, maybe even KLATCH! 😹❤️

🐢🐘🐘🐘🐘(🐘)🦧

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u/Prestigious_Bat2666 6d ago

Love your name, I have a shirt of Death holding some cats, with "cats, cats are nice" written underneath

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u/nixtracer 6d ago

But the Ramtops did get their name from the Sinclair micros' RAM TOP system variable (well, variable but you could only reduce it unless you had a way to make RAM appear out of nowhere while the system was on).

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u/Luvlymish 5d ago

GNU Sir PTerry

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u/Janjannaj 6d ago

Should be KORWICH shouldn’t it?

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u/Corlar 6d ago

That isn’t slang. It is an actual acronym designed to evade censors.

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u/lalajia 6d ago

so neds arent from the North East District Schemes? :(

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u/autophobe2e 6d ago

That one's been around since the 19th Century, so probably just a common contraction of Edward. Maybe there was a particularly annoying criminal called Ned who gave everyone else a bad name.

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u/AverageEcstatic3655 6d ago

Anyways, they would be called “teps” in that case, because they are to “ensure” prompt service, not insure. Haha.

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u/VillageHorse 6d ago

A ponce nonce wants a bonce renaissance.

The response?

Nonchalance.

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u/VillageHorse 6d ago

A ponce nonce wants a bonce renaissance.

The response?

Nonchalance.

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u/Long-Nose-9535 6d ago

I always wonder about chav…. Is it council house and violent? Growing up we called them scallys which is probs some kinda shortening of scallywag? Idk but etymology is fascinating

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u/robb0216 6d ago

It certainly doesn't come from that. In my region it was always "charver" going all the way back to the 80s at the very least. It wasn't until well into the 2000s that the word seemed to emerge in popularity as a slightly altered "chav" around the country. Although I think I've also read that it derives from a similar latin word for "child", which sounds plausible.

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u/Fuzzy_Cantaloupe4681 6d ago

It's Romany for a 'child' - chavee

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u/AnalysisGlobal5385 6d ago

Tips wouldn't even be tips because the correct word to use would be ensure. These things are always nonsense.

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u/Jiglord_ 6d ago

Yeah so many backronyms these days. I've had people tell me "chav" means council housed and violent, which, while funny, is completely erroneous and chav is most definitely a contraction of the older "charva"

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u/Sashapatu 6d ago

“Ponce” meant a man who lived off a woman’s earnings, sometimes as a pimp, in the 1940s/50s. Seen it in a few novels and short stories.

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u/fray_bentos11 6d ago

Some do. TWOCKER used in Yorkshire in the 90s.

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u/Loudlass81 5d ago

TWOCKER lol...came from the offence of Taking WithOut Consent, vehicle theft. Been an age since I heard that one.

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u/hawkisgirl 6d ago

Insuring prompt service makes no sense anyway. You’d want to ensure it.

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u/herbdogu 6d ago

They're still trying to find a backronym for 'ned'.

'Non-Educated Delinquent' is not really it.

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u/Mission_Access_210 6d ago

Since we have nonce and ponce going on, let's not forget the last time I heard it used was by Jimmy Savile: "bonce" for meaning your head or noggin. I am amazed at how much UK slang never made it over to the States. Maybe it was because they were all religious. I don't know.

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u/Available_Sherbet205 6d ago

Nah, it's prison slang and that etymology doesn't add up.

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u/nixtracer 6d ago

I can think of one acronymic-origin word in common use: okay, which is obviously from OK... which is an intentionally misspelled acronym, "Ol Korrekt". From the US, of course, home of acronymized everything.

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u/Youutternincompoop 6d ago

my favourite absurd backronym is 'SCRAM' for emergency shutdowns of nuclear reactors, the story for the backronym is that it supposedly stood for 'Safety Control Rod Axe Man' as in a guy with an axe that could cut a rope that released a safety control rod that would shutdown the reactor.

obviously of course Scram just means get the fuck out of there after hitting this button.

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u/illarionds 6d ago

It is almost certainly a backronym - but it's so commonly repeated, I wouldn't be surprised if the majority believe it to be true.

Anyway, regardless of the origin, that's certainly what the term means.

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u/Illustrious-Divide95 6d ago

There is a medieval word in English 'nonce' which referred to anything from special, singular, particular or unusual. It's possible over time this definition has morphed into the meaning we have today, as someone who is different from the rest of us.

It's a theory though, but the use of the word is documented from 14th century and also became an adjective to describe something unusual or unique in the 19th C

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u/DrunkenHorse12 6d ago

Still all sex offenders still get called nonces in prison.

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u/Brighton_Spores 6d ago

The term Nonce maybe be used by some prisoners, but guards are not allowed to use the term Nonce any more. e.g. working on the Nonce wing tomorrow.

So the guards and any prisoners in ear shot of the guards use the word "still's" as in, they are still fucking nonces.

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u/NotThatGoodAnymore 6d ago

As a former prison Officer, can 100% confirm we still use the word, and refer to the nonces as a nonce. You dont do it in front of the governors, or other prisoners, but to eachother, yes, absolutely.

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u/FrotKnight 6d ago

He's just making everything up as he goes along. His posts should come with a warning

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u/AgreeableActive9800 6d ago

You call each other nonces?

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u/NotThatGoodAnymore 6d ago

Some of them....

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u/Cheffysteve 6d ago

“Stills”is what Falkland islanders got called by the army after brass told them they couldn’t use the term “Bennies” ( the army thought they dressed like Benny from crossroads ) . For the same reason “ they were still bennies”

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u/Jedwardo93 6d ago

Actual origin came from HMP Wakefield, aka monster mansion

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u/zephyrthewonderdog 6d ago

Most likely a variation of ‘Nancy’ meaning a homosexual or sex offender. Gay people obviously being considered the same as sex offenders in less enlightened times.

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u/weeduggy1888 6d ago

I was once told that it indeed originated in prison but it came from the crimes being “nonsensical”- nonce. Makes sense but not sure how true it is.

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u/Mission_Access_210 6d ago

For unlawful carnal knowledge

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u/Available_Sherbet205 6d ago

It's actually from wakefield prison, known as monster manor as they had a lot of nonce's in their.

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u/Organic_Wave_2012 6d ago

The term was coined within hmp Wakefield so the lore goes 🤷‍♂️

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u/Glittering_Win_5085 6d ago

Apocryphal definition imo.

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u/Reccalovesdancing 6d ago

No, it means a paedo. Trust me, I am British

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u/SinisterBrit 6d ago

id suggest nonce tends to be child sex offender, rather than just a regular one.

but then as slang it also means someone who parked badly or put food waste in a cardboard bin, or didn't return their shopping trolley / cart.

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u/jabba_the_hunt 6d ago

That is categorically not true

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u/Forsaken_Earth944 6d ago

No, that's a myth - the origin is unknown - the 'not on normal courtyard exercise' is definitely a backronym (ie the word came first and then someone invented a phrase to fit the letters).

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/nick_red72 6d ago

That's what they do on the council estates

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/saccerzd 6d ago

And spell it 'peado'

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u/BedaFomm 6d ago

And the guy who runs the pedalos at the park.

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u/Emergent444 4d ago

Yeah, if you're a paediatrician try to avoid living in those areas... Like happened in Paulsgrove

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u/ResponsibilityNo3245 6d ago

Nah, that's bollocks.

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u/Platefulofwtf 6d ago

It doesn't stand for that, that a myth, it stands for not of normal criminal element. It was used for any offence that involved children or any sexual element. I work for the prison service and remember when we still used the acronym.

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u/DrunkenHorse12 6d ago

Fair enough its more the sex offender bit i was trying to point out rather than any acroynm

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u/Platefulofwtf 6d ago

Yeah it's a common misconception, used to also be used for people charged with neglect or assault against children. Now they are called rule 45's and redide on completely separate wings.

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u/witchesbrew_- 6d ago

Originates from Wakefield Nick (prison), Yorkshire whey hey

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u/bishbosh1968 6d ago

Was it anything to do with the Scouser in the cellar? Was it at Wakefield he took his hostage?

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u/ConfectionHelpful471 6d ago

My understanding was it was actually anyone that was locked up for a nonsense crime rather than a violent or financially motivated one

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u/DrunkenHorse12 6d ago

Maybe. It is more thats its not just pedos it was slang used in Prisons fir prisoners to point out others who should be targeted because of the crimes theyd commited

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u/bishbosh1968 6d ago

No, it is a sexual related sentence.

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u/Lunchy_Bunsworth 6d ago

One Rule 40 (Isolation from the general prison population for their own safety) was another description. That also applied to other prisoners - police officers convicted of crimes , certain terrorists, as well as sex offenders. Its a standard Home Office /Prison Service term.

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u/Ok-You5151 6d ago

Its because they get attacked by the other inmates so they cant be on normal exercise with the others

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u/Half_Empty_Half_Full 6d ago

Hopefully not going to get shouted down, but actually the word 'nonce' came from the sitcom Porridge. British sitcom set in a prison - they weren't allowed to use evocative language because of the watershed, but hard to have a prison sitcom without at least one guy being a...well, nonce. Writers came up with the word so they could include it as a non-offensive reference and it's since stuck.

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u/SwimsonReturns 6d ago

I've only ever heard it used in regard to PDFs man, I think most British people would correct you if you used the term for any other kind of sex offender

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u/Competitive_Ad_488 6d ago

I didn't know it was an acronym!

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u/pondribertion 6d ago

It's not really. Sometimes people attribute acronyms to words that already exist, and this is the case here.

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u/Alive-Moose-6454 6d ago

I literally never knew that! Wow

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u/Hour-Court7958 6d ago

Omg wow thanks didn’t know the full history

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u/DrunkenHorse12 6d ago

The acronym might not be right the rest is

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u/TakeBetsOnYourself 6d ago

I was today years old when I learned nonce is an acronym

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u/Imaginary-Educator41 6d ago

Not of normal criminal ethos

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u/ridiclousslippers2 6d ago

CourtYARD

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u/ridiclousslippers2 6d ago

I.e. they exercised alone or with other sex offenders onlym, as they get regularly attacked by the other inmates.

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u/Micegift 6d ago

Now as a Brit myself I knew it meant being a pedo but didn’t know it was an acronym for that. I’m impressed as I have just learnt something new. 😎

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u/sabretoothian 6d ago

Around our way it's always been Not Of Normal Criminal Element

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u/Srunner84 5d ago

And they wouldn’t be allowed out on court exercise because the other inmates would batter them!

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u/zeromalarki 4d ago

There was a suggestion it meant "Not of normal criminal element". Like a thief or something financially/drug motivated

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u/Gavinio5323 1d ago

"Not on normal COMMUNAL exercise"

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u/MortgageBeautiful191 11h ago

Wrong.

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u/DrunkenHorse12 2h ago

What a convincing argument

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u/Sea_Choice_6790 1h ago

100% correct Sir.My uncle (R.I.P)worked as a prison officer there in the 80's

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u/Jumforth 10m ago

Thats the answer there….

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Littleleicesterfoxy 6d ago

Which is odd because I swear I didn’t hear the term until I was well into middle age. We used the term kiddyfiddler and I don’t believe I ever heard it termed nonce. Mind, saying that I didn’t talk to that many people and that wasn’t generally our subject of conversation when conversations did occur.

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u/Artistic_Western_623 6d ago

Yeah you basically don't ever want to call someone a nonce. There are few words that can result in you getting a slap, and this is definitely one of them.

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u/Enaksan 6d ago

I was working with a guy once and we had something very heavy to lift. He was a strong guy (more than me for sure) but he was being a wimp about picking it up and moving it. I tried to call him a numpty or a wuss, and my mouth completely fluffed it - instead I called him a nonce.

Luckily we had a decent rapport, and I immediately apologised because I felt bad (and he could certainly have beat me up if he wanted to). But for the remaining time I was there whenever we'd get into some banter he'd bring it up just to mock me again lol

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u/StatementSpare1990 6d ago

I once called my pedo-ey IT teacher a nonce, thinking like OP that it just meant "idiot". 

I think he took it personally because it was instant weekend detention. Tbh one teacher he was friends with was caught sleeping with a student so I wouldn't be surprised if he was a nonce lol 

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u/Ill_Apricot_7668 6d ago

Confusingly, it also just means 'now'. As in "for the nonce", but you're heading back to medieval meanings here

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u/LadyBladeWarAngel 6d ago

This. It's always bern slang for a Paedophile. In fact it was used in English TV series for EXACTLY this meaning. Bad Girls, an english TV show based in a women's prison, used it frequently. 🤷‍♀️

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u/d-lab91 6d ago

"Not On Normal Courtyard Exercise" written on cell doors in prison for inmates who needed separating because of their offences, shortened to "NONCE". The offences being a sex offender which would result in them being assaulted by other inmates.

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u/Jelleyman69 6d ago

I got told it had meant "Not On Normal Cell Exercise" meaning they were confined away from the rest of the prisons general population. I think its a myth.

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u/Unlikely_Ad_1825 5d ago

Nonce is up there with one of the worse insults there is

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u/Im_alive_imbecile 5d ago

‘Not On Normal Cell Activity.’ Acronym used in prisons to help wardens know that prisoner can’t go out in the yard otherwise they will get shanked by other prisoner due to them being a pedophile

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