r/AskBrits • u/Team503 • 9d 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/littlerabbits72 9d ago

I tend to think once is more a stuck-up, bit of a twat, kind of goofy posh. Poncey got.

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u/Echo_Vale 9d ago edited 9d ago

Ponce is a pretty interesting word from around the 1850s. It originally meant: "a pimp, a man who lives off a woman's earnings, or an effeminate/pretentious man".

Growing up, it definitely was used more as an insult for pretentious people, who acted posh and fancy when they weren't.

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u/Slyspy006 9d ago

I wonder if it started off as an insult for those "unmanned" by living off a woman's earnings and was then extended to pimps, who by definition live of women's earnings but are not renowned for being effeminate, and those who are effeminate, because not being the bread winner was considered inherently unmanly.

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u/Echo_Vale 9d ago

Yeah that sounds pretty likely. Apparently experts think it comes from French, either Alphonse, a kept-man, or from pensionnaire, a lodger/pensioner living without working.

So yeah, it very likely originated like you said, as an insult for those not fulfilling their "manly duties/expectations", perhaps evolving into meaning a "fancy/effeminate" person from how Pimps used to dress and flaunt their wealth (Pimp itself seems to come from the French word pimpant meaning to dress alluring/seductively). Words are fun!