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

[Jonathan Lighter]

Thanks for the clarification, Jon.

JL

Jonathon Green <slang at ABECEDARY.NET> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Jonathon Green
Subject: Re: a "nonce" story--and another faux acronym?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jonathan Lighter wrote:

>Surely "nonce" owes something to "ponce" ?
>
>JL
>
>
>
Setting aside the chronological disparity - ponces start appearing
(linguistically) c. 1850 and nonces (ditto) a good deal more than a
century later, and indeed the 'occupational' one - I don't think there
is a relationship, other than that of assonance. The idea of a person
being a 'bit of nonsense', or even a 'nonsense' is an acceptable London
working-class/criminal locution. As in 'That cunt at Random House, 'e's
a right bit of nonsense'. The one thing that does link them is the
imponderability of their etymologies. As regards _ponce_, the OED opts
for SE _pounce_, Partridge prefers French _pensionnaire_, a lodger, with
its links to the late 17C _pensioner at/to the petticoat_, a pimp (by
19C abbreviated to simple _pensioner_), while, albeit unlikely, Ian
Hancock in 'Shelta & Polari' (1984) notes French argot _pont
(d’Avignon)_ or _pontonnière_, a prostitute (who works from the arches
of a bridge). I put forward what I know of _nonce_ yesterday, and still
think it springs both from 'nonsense' and the fact that in the hierarchy
of a UK prison, whence the term originates, the molester is the
considered the lowest of the low, a 'non-person'.

JG

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com