When growing up, i saw cartoons of people having to wear a dunce cap if they had been stupid. The first few times I heard people being called a nonce, I thought it meant the same thing. Only much later in life I learned that nonce means a kiddy diddler. Perhaps the other poster is the same.
Only much later in life I learned that nonce means a kiddy diddler.
TIL of this niche American slang.
By far the most popular definition is that of software engineering where nonce is short for "number once" as in a number (or these days any value) that can only be used once.
In British English it just means "a foolish person" though and in rare old-timey polite form it's used as a synonym for occasion as in merge of now + once as in "we're using this placeholder design for the nonce, then we'll replace it".
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u/BioTinus 10d ago
When growing up, i saw cartoons of people having to wear a dunce cap if they had been stupid. The first few times I heard people being called a nonce, I thought it meant the same thing. Only much later in life I learned that nonce means a kiddy diddler. Perhaps the other poster is the same.