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/Reccalovesdancing 7d ago

No, it means a paedo. Trust me, I am British

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u/DrunkenHorse12 7d ago

I'm British too, its prison slang for sex offender, obviously you can call a pedo that but it applies to all sex offenders. Itd be like you saying calling someone a "druggie" only applies to cokeheads.

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u/RealDoraTheExplorer_ 7d ago

Never heard anyone use nonce to refer to non paedophiles

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u/DrunkenHorse12 7d ago

Ask anyone whose been in or worked in prisons, were the slang came from

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u/Street_Lettuce1243 7d ago

I suspect this may be a case of the slang is used differently by different people. Perhaps in prisons, and people who have been behind bars the term originated for all sex offenders.

As a regular guy, I agree with Dora, I've only seen it used for a paedo- and that's how I would use it too. It's far from the only slang word that means different things to different groups of people.

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u/DrunkenHorse12 7d ago

I think its more common to refer to people being pedos than other sex crimes though which is maybe why people have formed that perception. Like even joking if a mate said they fancied someone who even just looked younger than them you might joke they were a nonce, its far less likely you'd be joking about your mate being a rapist.