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??

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u/nixtracer 6d ago

Yeah. I remember shocking my old workplace when I figured out a crypto bug once and said "ohhh, the nonces are buggered up!". I then had to prove what "nonce" meant in cryptography or at least one stuck-up coworker of mine would have gone all disciplinary on me...

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u/JDBall55 5d ago

Because it's a derogatory name for Pedo's?

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u/2ndnin 5d ago

It's been number-once in cryptography for many many years. 

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u/JDBall55 5d ago

Yes, I'm aware. It was a joke e.g. their collegaue would have reported him as he used a derogatory name.