for the nonce

nonce 1 |

adjective

(of a word or expression) coined for or used on one occasion: a nonce usage.

PHRASES

for the nonce for the present; temporarily: the room had been converted for the nonce into a nursery.

ORIGIN Middle English: from then anes‘the one (purpose)’ (from then, obsolete oblique form of the + ane‘one’ + -s3), altered by misdivision; compare with newt and nickname.

newt

noun

a small, slender-bodied amphibian with lungs and a well-developed tail, typically spending its adult life on land and returning to water to breed.

ORIGIN late Middle English: from an ewt ( ewt from Old English efeta: see eft), interpreted (by wrong division) as a newt(NOTE: eft is a good crossword puzzle word.)

NICKNAME

 noun

a familiar or humorous name given to a person or thing instead of or as well as the real name.

ORIGIN late Middle English: from an eke-name ( eke meaning ‘addition’: see eke2), misinterpreted, by wrong division, as a neke name.

You may have noticed, I love words.

 When my son John was a very little boy he called afternoon safternoon, because he heard the s attached to the noun as in “this afternoon”.  And I heard the same elision when my mother offered my father “acereal”, all one word.

When Safari erased my blog yesterday I had just used nonce. I kept it as a bookmark to remind me where I left off. However, now I can’t remember my parabolic tangent so I’ll stick with wordplay.

I would like to thank the people both on comment and off who told me what I should do about Safari. I think they should tell Safari; apparently it is a common problem.

Anon, anon, sir.