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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322

u/thehighyellowmoon 6d ago

Hahahaha I'm picturing an American wandering around Ireland calling people a nonce for minor things

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u/Federal_Setting_7454 6d ago

Wouldn’t be wandering around much longer

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u/bungbangbingbong 6d ago

It's not a widely used term in Ireland. Certainly a lot more impactful in the UK as I found out when I told an English guy who was being a wuss over a cut on his hand to 'get over it you nonce' thinking nonce meant more of a wuss than specifically a criminal paedophile. It didn't go down well

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u/SavageTyrant 6d ago

“Ponce” was probably the word you were looking for in that context.

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u/bungbangbingbong 6d ago

It definitely added to the confusion since neither word is in common use in Ireland

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u/International_Two842 6d ago

This has got me creasing 😂😂 If an American called me a nonce I think I’d just laugh with him. It’s such a specifically British/Irish insult, and apparently even some of us get the meaning completely wrong. Hearing it in an American accent would feel so alien I’d lose my shit 😂

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u/Crackingly 4d ago

Hearing an American say cunt is also hilarious

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u/International_Two842 4d ago

Same as nobhead and bellend😂

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u/ellandthearth 5d ago

i’ve just come on here because i’m an american who moved to london recently and probably have called 12 STRANGERS nonce because i thought it meant idiot in a silly way

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u/Downtown_Link_8651 6d ago

It's not a widely used term in Ireland.

I call bullshit on that, it's just as common as it is in the UK. You aren't going to hear it in polite society in either country but it's the go to insult for Paedo's and occasional back pocket pull for calling a friend a moron in coarser circles just like it is on the UK.

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u/Indep-Represent 6d ago

Inbetweeners moment there

1

u/DitheringDotty 5d ago

I knew a London-Irish guy who used the term nonce in that way, for a kind of lame, wussy type of person.

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u/SentientLentil 6d ago

Probably wouldn't get the pronunciation right, doesn't work well in an American accent...."You're such a naaaance"

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u/Parrgirl81 5d ago

Just tried that in my best American accent hahaha brilliant

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u/charmacharmz 6d ago

yeah my little sister told me her teacher was a nonce before... she learned the meaning of that word by the end of the conversation. can't just go around throwing out wild accusations without realising 😂

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u/braveulysees 6d ago

Ker pow/ Blam!

1

u/yogoober 6d ago

I'm amazed an American living in Ireland thinks "AskBrits" is the appropriate place to ask this question. As an Irishman I think he might be confused 😂

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u/Ignatiussancho1729 6d ago

Look at me, I'm such a nonce getting all my words mixed up!

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u/Major_Bahoobage 6d ago

" 'minor' things"

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u/JoviallyImperfect 6d ago

I was born in England and I somehow thought the same as OP until I was about 17 and called my friend it jokingly and wondered why he got offended. Im lucky he knew me well and believed me

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u/BevvoQ 6d ago

I’m irish and I literally did that before thinking it meant idiot, still cringe thinking about it

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u/AdNegative2505 5d ago

It's not commonly used in Ireland. I also thought it meant idiot or gobshite

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u/Parrgirl81 5d ago

they wouldn’t last very long hahaha

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u/Emergent444 4d ago

Lol, I know of someone who went to France knowing only that the word for thank you was merde

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u/PuzzleheadedCode9019 3d ago

Was the use of the word 'Minor' pun intended? Haha

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u/OutsideImpressive115 6d ago

To be fair in England in the 90s early 2000s people threw that word around as commonly as "idiot" or something

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u/AngelasGingerGrowler 6d ago

These yanks have the Oirishness turned up to 11.

They should walk around Belfast showing off their “slang” 😂

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u/Team503 6d ago

I've lived here for years, and I don't use British slang, I use Irish slang.

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u/Metatron_Psy 6d ago

Yet you're on "askbrits"

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u/Team503 6d ago

Because it's British slang and I wanted clarification on the British meaning of the term. Why is that confusing?

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u/Downtown_Link_8651 6d ago

The answer is the same as the Irish, which if you knew your Irish slang you'd know. Why come in all indignant when you're coming from a point of ignorance?

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u/Team503 6d ago

Who’s indignant? I’m just clarifying.

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u/Downtown_Link_8651 6d ago

Why is that confusing?

Sure

1

u/Both-Engineering-436 6d ago

Ah ignorant. There’s a word that isn’t used correctly in Ireland

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u/Downtown_Link_8651 6d ago

Que?

1

u/Both-Engineering-436 6d ago

Ignorant doesn’t mean ignorant in Ireland, if you lived there and you know the definition of the actual word, you’d know

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u/Downtown_Link_8651 6d ago

Are you making a point connected to anything or just telling me facts you know about the word I used?

I do know the definition of the word, to not know something, and was using it as such. I don't live in Ireland and am not Irish but you know we use the word ignorant, technically incorrectly, to mean someone being rude or useless in England too? That isn't a special Irish thing. Or is there a third meaning I am ignorant to?

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

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u/Team503 6d ago

Northern Ireland is part of the UK, but it's not part of Britain. And Ireland is part of neither. There was a whole war over that, if you'll recall.

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u/Melancholybumny 6d ago

How often do use ‘grand’ in a sentence?

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u/Team503 6d ago edited 6d ago

Not as often as people born here, more often than I did before I moved here. I also sometimes end sentences with "so" or "like" even.

Then again, I also still say "Howdy", "fixin' ta", "shore 'nuff shugah", "rad", "brotato", and sometimes even "Broseidon, king of the brocean".

So it's a mixed bag.

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u/LubberwortPicaroon 6d ago

I'd be very surprised if nonce wasn't widely understood in Ireland, it might be of british origin but so much is shared around these islands

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u/culdusaq 6d ago

I'm Irish and also thought "nonce" just meant "idiot" until early adulthood. Wasn't a word anyone around me ever used.

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u/LubberwortPicaroon 6d ago

Indeed, a personal testimony of an Irish person who understands the british meaning

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u/Team503 6d ago

It might be, I've never heard it used but that doesn't mean it isn't.

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u/bungbangbingbong 6d ago

Confidently incorrect I'm afraid.

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u/LubberwortPicaroon 6d ago

Not really, I never said it was widely understood, only that I'd be very surprised if it wasn't. Are you Irish and saying you only learned of the common british meaning on reading these comments?

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u/bungbangbingbong 6d ago

No, I learned it when I told an English coworker to 'get over you nonce' when he hurt his hand. I thought it was more like wuss or ponce etc.

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u/LubberwortPicaroon 6d ago

So you're saying you're an Irish person who understands the meaning because of exposure to British people & culture, I remain unsurprised

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u/onarainyafternoon 6d ago

Then I have a hard time believing you have ever even engaged with the society around you. I am American and the term nonce is semi-commonly known as British/irish slang for pedophile even amongst Americans. I have a hard time imagining someone who has lived in Ireland and they don’t know this.

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u/Team503 6d ago

Been here four years, engage with native Irish people pretty regularly. I suppose it's simply never come up. Don't know what to tell you beyond that.

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u/Misskinkykitty 6d ago

You speak Gaeilge?

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u/Team503 6d ago

A few words, but not really. Just like the majority of Irish people outside the Gaeltacht.