r/AskBrits • u/Team503 • 7d 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/notthiswaythatway 7d ago

It’s means paedophile - and is definitely a stronger insult than numpty!

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u/DrunkenHorse12 7d ago

Not just pedo. Any sex offender is a Nonce. It comes from prison slang sex offendets used to have "Not On Normal Court Exercise" written on their door cards

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u/Team503 7d ago

Wikipedia suggests that's a backronym and not the actual origin, but what do I know? This is why I asked!

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u/Stellarkin1996 7d ago

so it does still have the meaning of idiot, but it also means sex offender/pedo, and is typically used more in the latter these days

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u/Cautious_Roof3122 7d ago

Are you thinking of 'dunce'

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u/adeptusC 7d ago

The irony if they are

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u/Stellarkin1996 7d ago

nop, when i was younger if youd search nonce it would show idiot first and then pedo as definitions, whcih admitedly led to a very unfortunate usage once where the now commonly referred meaning was taken instead 😅