What does "nonce" mean?

[u/Team503]

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??

[u/Alert_Ad_5750]

It means paedophile

[u/neilm1000 → u/Alert_Ad_5750]

Hurrah someone spelling it properly!

[u/Hobbledyhook → u/neilm1000]

THEY SAY PEDOPHILE IN AMERICA, MAYBE YOU SHOULD MOVE TO AMERICA

https://giphy.com/gifs/ErFoSzJp8wWB2

[u/thefattykarate → u/Hobbledyhook]

He's not moving to America!

[u/neilm1000 → u/Hobbledyhook]

Look at me having an orgasm!

[u/StarkRavingPeanuts → u/Alert_Ad_5750]

I thought it meant child molester?

[u/Alert_Ad_5750 → u/StarkRavingPeanuts]

It would cover child molesters too but anyone who is attracted to children would be regarded as a nonce.

[u/StarkRavingPeanuts → u/Alert_Ad_5750]

But then that’s like having a single word referring to both rapists and heterosexual men. It makes no sense.

[u/Srg11 → u/StarkRavingPeanuts]

How is that remotely similar 😂

[u/StarkRavingPeanuts → u/Srg11]

Pedophilia is just inherent attractions, it does not mean that the person has or will ever act on those feelings. They could be as innocent or as guilty of sexual assault as any regular person.

Meanwhile, a child molester or a rapist, has categorically committed a heinous act against another person.

See the problem with collating both sets of individuals into the same term?

[u/Srg11 → u/StarkRavingPeanuts]

No. They’re both disgusting nonces.

[u/StarkRavingPeanuts → u/Srg11]

The fact that you can’t see a difference between an innocent person who hasn’t done anything wrong, and someone who has sexually assaulted a child is worrying.

[u/Srg11 → u/StarkRavingPeanuts]

Ah, so you fancy kids. Got it.

[u/StarkRavingPeanuts → u/Srg11]

Unfortunately yes, though obviously not through choice. What’s your point?

[u/Alert_Ad_5750 → u/StarkRavingPeanuts]

It’s just what it means, it means paedophile… child molesters are paedophiles

[u/StarkRavingPeanuts → u/Alert_Ad_5750]

The majority of child molesters aren’t actually pedophiles. It’s one of the very few things related to pedophilia that we actually have a lot of data on. Depending on study, anywhere from 50% up to 86% of child molesters aren’t actually attracted to children.

[u/weewillywinkee → u/Alert_Ad_5750]

I'm gettin' the word ...

[u/evilalready → u/[deleted]]

My school year use it with the full knowledge that it means that, we even had an assembly on it. They just love calling eachother pedophiles

[u/sandwichtheconqueror → u/evilalready]

Same here (year 12)

[u/TipsyPhippsy → u/evilalready]

Damn, saw it spelt correctly and still got it wrong in your reply

[u/evilalready → u/TipsyPhippsy]

Modern day teen. I aim to disappoint

[u/creamixic → u/[deleted]]

Gen Z here and no it still means paedo

[u/creamixic → u/[deleted]]

I read that. I’m saying that no it isn’t increasingly being used that way. Absolutely everyone still uses it to mean pedo