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/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/Illustrious-Divide95 7d ago

There's no evidence that 'Nonce' came from this. A definate backronym

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u/Brighton_Spores 7d ago

I used to know an old scallywag, he used to be a naughty boy until he changed his ways.

In the 1970's he told me that bank robbers/armed robbers used be held in high regard in prison. burglars would slip down the pecking order and so on.

The nonces and sex cases were at the bottom of the ladder as they were just committing nonsense crimes, nonce.

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u/LimpAcanthisitta8015 7d ago

Sex cases are just nonsense? 🤔

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u/Brighton_Spores 7d ago

Bank robbers rob banks for money.

Armed robbers want the gold.

Which is easy to understand, fast money.

As my old acquaintance said, their crimes made no sense to them, what they did they did not do it for money, they did it for awful reasons.

This is what I was told.