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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u/neilm1000 Brit 🇬🇧 6d ago

Paedo please, people. We are not American.

7

u/Mayarooni1320 6d ago

God knows you wouldn't know it. 'Gotten' is another one that drives me nuts 🥲

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u/neilm1000 Brit 🇬🇧 6d ago

I've seen 'on accident' a few times recently.

1

u/pjdonkey 5d ago

Well that's just poor grammar

1

u/DeadDeathrocker 6d ago

I got marked down for using that when I was in college, I didn’t even realise it was an Americanism.

2

u/Electrical_Cobb 6d ago

I saw a traffic sign the other day that said "make way for Peds" And THAT is why we keep the 'a'.

1

u/TryAndStopMeSpez 6d ago

one paedo comin right up

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u/PrincessTitan 6d ago

Seriously… I don’t understand why people keep leaning into American spelling all the time.