a "nonce" story--and another faux acronym?

[Laurence Horn]

Over on the forensic linguistics list, Kate Haworth posted the
following, regarding Ron Butters's (standard) use of "for the nonce":

=======
On a slightly related note, I'm always bemused by colleagues from
over the pond using the term 'nonce' (see below). My understanding of
this word, from my heady days of criminal defence in Liverpool, is as
prison slang for paedophile. Am I alone in this?

Kate Haworth
PhD Student,
School of English Studies,
Nottingham
========

So of course various posters responded, including me--

========
..."nonce" is a standard term for either 'current occasion/moment',
so "for the nonce" = 'for now', or as part of a nominal compound
"nonce word" = one time only coinage, i.e. a word invented for the
occasion.  It's cognate with "once" and ultimately with "one".  Might
you be thinking of "nance", as in "nancy boy"?
=========

--and another who pointed out that while the OED does connect Kate's
"nonce" with "nance", "nancy boy", it is indeed a well-established
spelling in her sense.  But what's interesting for our purposes is
the following response.  Am I correct in supposing that this
unpacking of "nonce" as deriving from the acronym below just one more
etymythology to add to our roster?

Larry


--- begin forwarded text

Date:         Thu, 2 Jun 2005 12:37:26 +0100
From: Nicci MacLeod <nicci at ATARAXIA.FREESERVE.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: [FL-LIST] PhD scholarship, University of York

Kate,

The proper meaning of the word 'nonce' is a word occurring, invented,
or used just for a particular occasion, from the expression 'for the
nonce'.  A good example would be the suffix '-gate' tagged on to
imply a high-profile scandal involving audiotape (originating, of
course, from Watergate).

Nonce is also a term in cryptography, I believe first used by the
Bletchley Park team. It refers to known phrases that should appear in
plaintext, and thus help your codebreaking efforts.

I understand 'nonce' as a slang word for a child molestor was
originally a term created by prison officers, and originates from the
practice of segregating these offenders in prisons, the term actually
being an acronym for Not On Normal Communal Excercise.

Nicci MacLeod
PhD Student
Dept. of Linguistics and English Language
University of Wales, Bangor

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