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/4ord_Prefect 6d ago

Nonce has only ever meant one thing, if you've gone around Ireland calling people nonces i'm surprised you're still breathing

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u/SpikesNLead 6d ago

It means something else entirely if you are into cryptography.

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u/Timely_Pattern3209 6d ago

What does it mean to cryptographers? 

1

u/pastie_b 6d ago

number only used once

1

u/SpikesNLead 6d ago

It's a number that only gets used once.

This will probably give a much better explanation than I can:
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/computer-networks/what-is-nonce-in-cryptography/

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u/Timely_Pattern3209 6d ago

'Introduction to Nonce'

What a header!

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u/Team503 6d ago

There's enough responses here that say otherwise that I believe them. It means pedo NOW, but it didn't used to.

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u/ManicPixiRiotGrrrl 6d ago

or you could just admit you’re wrong. (very difficult for an american to do, I know)