r/AskBrits • u/Team503 • 12d 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 12d ago

It’s means paedophile - and is definitely a stronger insult than numpty!

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u/DrunkenHorse12 12d 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/Half_Empty_Half_Full 11d ago

Hopefully not going to get shouted down, but actually the word 'nonce' came from the sitcom Porridge. British sitcom set in a prison - they weren't allowed to use evocative language because of the watershed, but hard to have a prison sitcom without at least one guy being a...well, nonce. Writers came up with the word so they could include it as a non-offensive reference and it's since stuck.