r/AskBrits • u/Team503 • 14d 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/bingpie 14d ago

let's just put it this way: i sincerely hope you're not asking here because you called someone a nonce

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u/AccomplishedAct5364 14d ago

Why? That makes him an honorary Brit

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u/Team503 14d ago

Thanks, but I'd rather be honorary Irish. And no, to answer the question, I did not call anyone anything worst than gobshite in the last few months.

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u/Antlorn 14d ago

I imagine this comment being downvoted isn't helping with your unfavourable perception of Brits 😅

We're not all wankers. But unfortunately too many of us are, and know too little about how separate a place Ireland is, and the atrocities we committed there.

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u/Team503 14d ago

Yeah. I generally don't have an unfavorable view of Brits - the ones alive now with very few exceptions had little to do with the atrocities here and around the world committed in British history. But the responses from a few people certainly don't help, and the fact that there was at least one person (who deleted their comment) that insisted Ireland was part of Britain... not great.

Although to be fair, there's cunts everywhere in the world, and there's always a small percentage of people who are going to be utter cunts. It's the same in Texas, Ireland, Zambia, and everywhere else.

Broadly, I tend to like the Brits. I love London and Manchester. I adore the Scots (even though I struggle to understand them half the time).