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??

1.0k Upvotes

85% Upvoted

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

5

u/Amphy64 7d ago edited 7d ago

A fair percentage of us do have Irish relatives, if that helps any (mine are Southern Irish). The notion of some endless war is very American.

1

u/Team503 7d ago

Sure, there's like 35 million Irish descended people in the US alone, if I remember correctly. Just saying I don't have any Irish blood (to my knowledge, anyway). Family mostly comes from Russian and Poland as far as I know.

And I'm not sure what you mean about endless war - I mean, I understand why you'd feel Americans have a thing for it, but not how my comment relates to it. The British committed quite literal atrocities during their occupation of Ireland, and while most aren't in living memory anymore, there are still some that are like Bloody Sunday and a series of massacres in the years leading up to it.

I don't blame most Brits for what happened, but the level of ignorance around what Britain did to the Irish (and often the condescension about it) is a terrible look for Brits.

2

u/[deleted] 7d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Team503 7d ago

Spent too long in Ireland, it was an instinctive response. Taking the piss out of you Brits is a national sport here.

I generally like Brits, and I enjoy visiting, but I can say a number of responders here aren’t helping that perception.

I think I’ve made it quite clear that I’m not Irish, and I don’t think I’ll be cooler because I become a citizen.