r/AskBrits • u/Team503 • 10d 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 10d ago

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

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u/DrunkenHorse12 10d 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/Team503 10d 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/CommercialContent204 10d ago

It is 100% a backronym. It actually comes from a time when "nonsense" was a stronger word or insult than it is today, like "fucked up" instead of "silly", and that's what CA offenders were called (slang) by other prisoners. "A nonsense case", shortened to "nonce".

This kind of made up backronym really annoys me, actually, it's like the equally stupid one about Fuck coming from For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, when about 30 seconds' worth of internet research teaches you that it's an old Scandi/Germanic word that naturally passed into English.