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Joined: 3/7/2009 Posts: 32,924 Neurons: 97,950 Location: Inside Farlex computers
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nonce(noun) The present or particular occasion. Synonyms: time beingUsage: Her tendency to discover a touch of sadness had for the nonce disappeared.
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Joined: 6/25/2014 Posts: 401 Neurons: 2,787 Location: Veinau, Baden-Wuerttemberg Region, Germany
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It is the nonce for music, and in every carriage the noise of flutes are still sounding as they enter the palace gates ... What Paradise?! What abode of Gods? They wondered could be more enchanting than the snow-covered gardens of Princess Rosalyn's gardens ... through which we are now being drawn?
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Joined: 7/8/2010 Posts: 23,383 Neurons: 94,850
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Ah, OK, they mean that sort of nonce. I was wondering what they were going to use for a quotation. For a minute I thought the site was going downhill!
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Joined: 10/1/2014 Posts: 7 Neurons: 409,756 Location: Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea
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Sister Carrie
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Joined: 6/17/2014 Posts: 61 Neurons: 25,238 Location: Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom
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A Nonce is a dirt bag sex offender. I don't know if that drags this site downhill, but there it is.
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Joined: 6/30/2010 Posts: 10,965 Neurons: 32,652 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Yeah, we kinda knew that, Bryn.
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Joined: 6/15/2014 Posts: 104 Neurons: 148,179 Location: Nottingham, England, United Kingdom
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I think it is quite important for speakers of languages other than English to know that the word nonce is never used here except aas the description o a convicted offender, and it is such a bad term of abuse that it would cause trouble to try to use it to describe anything or anyone else. The descriptive meaning is so archaic as to have passed completely out of usage.
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 Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 6/30/2010 Posts: 10,965 Neurons: 32,652 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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That's sad. It's a word I use occasionally in its original sense, also in the sense of " nonsense ", as in " nonce word ".
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Joined: 2/4/2014 Posts: 8,445 Neurons: 6,967,411 Location: Bogotá, Bogota D.C., Colombia
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Nonce wordA nonce word is a lexeme created only "for the nonce" to solve an immediate problem of communication that is not expected to recur.[1][2] Quark, for example, was formerly a nonce word in English, appearing only in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. An example of a nonce word in the works of Shakespeare is "honorificabilitudinitatibus". Nonce words are often created as part of pop culture and advertising campaigns. A poem by Seamus Heaney entitled "Nonce Words" is included in his collection "District and Circle". http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Nonce+word
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Joined: 3/27/2014 Posts: 1,526 Neurons: 55,870 Location: Santiago, Santiago, Chile
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"A nonce word is one coined 'for the nonce'--made up for one occasion and not likely to be encountered again. When Lewis Carroll coined it, frabjous was a nonce word. Neologisms are much the same thing, brand-new words or brand-new meanings for existing words, coined for a specific purpose. Analogy, especially with familiar words or parts of speech, often guides the coiner, and occasionally these words will enter the standard vocabulary." (Kenneth G. Wilson, The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Columbia University Press, 1993)
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Joined: 5/30/2014 Posts: 1,698 Neurons: 5,079,026 Location: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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nonce is a good wrote to sadness
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Joined: 7/22/2014 Posts: 2,292 Neurons: 2,599,403 Location: Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia
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I'm glad dispossessed made that point to foreigners who might use this word in a conversation, This is a strange choice for word of the day - you'll only come across 'nonce' in Shakespeare & the like.
Nonce is a term for a child molester? I've NEVER heard the word in that context - that must be British slang. In Aussie slang: a 'nonce' is an idiot; a child molester is a 'kiddie fiddler' or a 'rock spider'.
I'm going to try to call someone a 'nonce' today, & see what kind of reaction I get.
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Joined: 3/1/2014 Posts: 844 Neurons: 473,259 Location: Newman Lake, Washington, United States
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ANOUNCE THE DIRTY WORD. PRONOUNCE THE FILTHY WORD. NOT QUITE AN OUNCE. GENERAL DEMUR.
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Joined: 7/26/2014 Posts: 1,405 Neurons: 37,072 Location: Apache Junction, Arizona, United States
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This is very interesting, all of the different interoperation's of how this word is and has been used. What prompted it to be offered as the "word of the day"? Yes, there is the old English definition which Shakespeare would have used, but having spent more then a few years in law enforcement, arresting predators, I have never come across this term being used in a derogatory context, regarding sex offenders. But while studying Shakespeare in undergraduate school, I do remember hearing it used, but then that was over 50 years ago. Could it be that someone working at this site is attempting to "pull-your-chain", Bryn Kinnaird???
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Joined: 6/15/2014 Posts: 104 Neurons: 148,179 Location: Nottingham, England, United Kingdom
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It was common prison slang in the UK, made popular by crime drama etc . . . . it is a UK usage i was refering to. Just a bad idea to call anyone a nonce.
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Joined: 7/8/2010 Posts: 23,383 Neurons: 94,850
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Actually, personally I wouldn't think of it as sex offender, but as a derogatory term for a gay man, from the point of view of the homophobe that all such men were a 'danger' to young boys or somehow dangerous to 'real men'. (Like, how!?) But it is not (happily) a common word -so my personal interpretation is not exactly tested by experience. Rather dated, I would have thought? But certainly not as dated as the 'now' nonce in the OP.
I know tfd does not set itself up to be a learner's site, but that is one part of the forum that now exists. And presumably people also use word of the day just to broaden their vocabulary. I think they should signal a bit more if a word is archaic. Keep them as word of the day (after all, broadening vocabulary occurs at every level) but signal when it is archaic or at least not in common usage.
It is just a bit unfortunate that that perfectly good word got hijacked by a derogatory meaning.
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Joined: 8/10/2014 Posts: 5,413 Neurons: 347,528 Location: Gualala, California, United States
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I have both heard and read 'for the nonce' used in conversation meaning for the moment. I've never heard nor read it used in any other way, and I've read thousands of books, dozens of them by British authors.
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Joined: 7/20/2014 Posts: 785 Neurons: 1,934,505 Location: Grover Beach, California, United States
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I am often amused at how a word will mutate. Words I used as a child now have totally different meanings. As a child "gay" meant something or someone was joyful, but today it has come to mean something that has nothing related to "joy" in that sense. I also get a kick out of differences in how we use the English language depending on location. I personally didn't know that in the UK "nounce" had bad connotation attached to it. To be honest I've never used the word. I still remember when I first came to China and they taught the children here to say "rubber" to mean "eraser". When a 6 year old first told me that he'd lost his "rubber" I had to take a moment to figure out what he could possibly mean, then I realized the poor child had lost his pencil eraser. I just love UK English!
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Joined: 8/10/2014 Posts: 5,413 Neurons: 347,528 Location: Gualala, California, United States
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I know what you mean, LRai. I keep wishing someone would ask me if I'm gay - so I can reply -"Nah! I'm not even feeling particularly cheerful!". =*___*=
I'm almost certain there are no dirty words, just unpleasant people with dirty minds.
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Joined: 7/20/2014 Posts: 785 Neurons: 1,934,505 Location: Grover Beach, California, United States
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MelissaMe wrote:I know what you mean, LRai. I keep wishing someone would ask me if I'm gay - so I can reply -"Nah! I'm not even feeling particularly cheerful!". =*___*=
I'm almost certain there are no dirty words, just unpleasant people with dirty minds. Melissa: I wince now every year when I sing "Deck the Halls" and I get to the verse that says; "...don we now our gay apparel..." The images I have (I tend to be very visual) make me want to laugh.
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Joined: 6/30/2010 Posts: 10,965 Neurons: 32,652 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Santa in chaps and a red leather thong ? Fabulous, dahling !
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Joined: 7/22/2014 Posts: 2,292 Neurons: 2,599,403 Location: Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia
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LRai wrote:MelissaMe wrote:I know what you mean, LRai. I keep wishing someone would ask me if I'm gay - so I can reply -"Nah! I'm not even feeling particularly cheerful!". =*___*=
I'm almost certain there are no dirty words, just unpleasant people with dirty minds. Melissa: I wince now every year when I sing "Deck the Halls" and I get to the verse that says; "...don we now our gay apparel..." The images I have (I tend to be very visual) make me want to laugh. OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! This is terrible, I sing this line at the top of my lungs & do the wrist movement every time! excaelis wrote:Santa in chaps and a red leather thong ? Fabulous, dahling ! At Christmas in Australia, we all wear thongs because it's hot as buggery. Of course, you call them flip-flops.
I was going to call someone a 'nonce' today to see what reaction I got, but I forgot.
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Joined: 6/30/2010 Posts: 10,965 Neurons: 32,652 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Wrong thong, NHF
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Joined: 7/22/2014 Posts: 2,292 Neurons: 2,599,403 Location: Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia
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excaelis wrote:Wrong thong, NHF You don't want to get the wrong thong! I know when I get out of the pool if I slip on someone else's, & try to walk, but go all skewwhiff before I realise - Oh I hate that! You're so right excaelis, you've don't want to get the wrong thong!
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Joined: 7/20/2014 Posts: 785 Neurons: 1,934,505 Location: Grover Beach, California, United States
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excaelis wrote:Santa in chaps and a red leather thong ? Fabulous, dahling ! OMG!!!! Now that's a visual I could have lived without...LOL I thought I'd seen just about everything having grown up in Hollywood...thanks for the laugh.
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