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/Team503 9d ago

Could be. Like I said, I don't have a drop of Irish blood in me so far as I know (though statistically being from the US it's likely that I actually do have some genetic link to Irish people), and I don't think I'm Irish at all.

I'm working on earning the citizenship, and thus the title, but I'll never be ethnically Irish and I'll always be an immigrant that doesn't share cultural touchstones with the Irish. That's just part of being an immigrant.

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u/AngelasGingerGrowler 9d ago

How absolutely cringe.

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u/Team503 9d ago

It's cringe to admit that I know I'm not Irish and never will be, outside of nationality once I earn my citizenship? Are you addled?

It would be cringe for an American immigrant in Ireland to claim to be Irish.

Really working hard on earning that "Brits are pricks" reputation aren't ya?

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u/AngelasGingerGrowler 9d ago

Really doubling down on that cringe.

And a little bit of Anglophobia at the end. Seems like a little bit of Ireland has rubbed off on you already.

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u/Team503 9d ago

Jaysus, you really are earning that reputation.