Nonce

[lankeela]

Where does the word nonce come from, meaning a pervert, or child molester?

[Hammond Egg]

I think it's an abbreviation of 'nonsense', in the sense that offences commited by such people are a nonsense, in that they have nothing to gain by commiting them - unlike people who steal things who are balancing some hope of gain against risk of being caught.

[shaneystar2]

Folk etymologies for the origins of this word state that the word derives from Not Of Normal Criminal Ethos, used to mean an offender whose motivation was different from the purely acquisitive, or possibly Not On Normal Courtyard Exercise, for prisoners that were not to be mixed with the general population for their own safety. As with most cases, these folk etymologies are examples of backronyms and should not be taken seriously. The actual origin of this word is unknown, but it is probable that it is derived from nancy, a derogatory term referring to homosexual males.

[gary baldy]

Great answer shaneystar2!

[lankeela]

Thanks shaneystar, but backronym???

[shaneystar2]

A backronym or bacronym is a type of acronym that is constructed to match the letters of an actual word appropriate in some fashion to the topic at hand. The word "backronym" is a portmanteau (fusion) of back and acronym and was coined in 1983.

An acronym is a word created from the initial letters of a phrase: RAdio Detection And Ranging becomes radar. Note that an acronym is an actual word -- anything that has not actually been assimilated as a word is an initialism.

[bigash58]

nonce= Not On Normal Courtyard Exercise (segregation)