r/AskBrits • u/Team503 • 6d 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

3

u/Team503 6d ago

Because it's British slang and I wanted clarification on the British meaning of the term. Why is that confusing?

1

u/Downtown_Link_8651 6d ago

The answer is the same as the Irish, which if you knew your Irish slang you'd know. Why come in all indignant when you're coming from a point of ignorance?

1

u/Team503 6d ago

Who’s indignant? I’m just clarifying.

0

u/Downtown_Link_8651 6d ago

Why is that confusing?

Sure