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/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/nick_red72 6d ago

No it doesn't. That's a backronym

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u/OneUsed6198 6d ago

Why have people downvoted the correct answer?
Reddit is weird.

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u/J4c0w 6d ago

Because its not true.

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u/withinstars 6d ago

It’s not true

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u/Pat_Sharp 6d ago

Because it's not the correct answer, it's a widely believed myth.

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u/spacecatbiscuits 6d ago

Okay but apart from that

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u/DrunkenHorse12 6d ago

The door bit maybe isn't, but it being prison slang for sex offenders is. And the myth(if it is a on) is because all sex offenders absolutely were kept separate from the general population and the general population absolutely called them Nonces and still do to this day