Nonce (slang)

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In the United Kingdom, nonce is a slang word for a sex offender or child sexual abuser. Although the term traditionally referred specifically to sex offenders, it later became a more general term of abuse approximately synonymous with "idiot". [1][2]

Nonce also means "now" in ordinary English[3] and has other meanings in the terms "nonce word" and "cryptographic nonce".

Usage in English prisons

Nonce first came into widespread use in UK prisons, where it is primarily used by prisoners to refer to convicted sex offenders, especially abusers of children. "Nonces" are traditionally targets of physical abuse from their prison inmates, and so usually go on Rule 45 (formerly Rule 43),[4] the rule that enables the segregation of vulnerable prisoners from the other prisoners for their own safety. The Rule 45 section of British prisons in which sex offenders are segregated (also known as going on 'The Numbers' or, in rhyming slang, 'The Cucumbers') is often referred to as the "nonce wing".[5][6]

Etymology

The Oxford English Dictionary, while describing the word's etymology as "Origin unknown", states that it is "perhaps related to" nance and cites a quotation which claims the word was derived from nancy-boy (a derogatory term referring to effeminate or homosexual males). It also suggests that it may derive from the nonse, Lincolnshire dialect for "good-for-nothing fellow".[3]

Linguist Jonathon Green suggests the word derives from nonsense. He quotes a reference from 1970 citing "nonces" as being short for "nonsenses" and an additional citation from 1999.[5]

The word nonce appears in Shakespeare's I Henry IV., act i., sc.2 I have cases of buckram for the nonce, to inmask our noted outward garments.

Urban Dictionary suggests this term is an acronym: 'Not On Normal Communal Exercise' Used by prison staff, to explain the segregation of inmates who were convicted of sex crimes towards children and the other inmates

References

  1. ↑ "London Slang". 
  2. ↑ "Peevish Slang Dictionary". 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Oxford English Dictionary Online, s.v. nonce, n.2.
  4. ↑ "Introduction to Prisons". 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "LISTSERV Discussion of origins of 'nonce'". 
  6. ↑ "'Nonce' on Everything2". 

External links

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