History Main / IllPretendIDidntHearThat

* DavidSedaris writes that when his mother was dying of cancer, he tried to end a phone conversation with her by saying, "I love you," and she responded, "I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

[[folder: Anime & Manga ]]

--> '''Captain Komamura''': "Rest easy. Unfortunately, my ears are not working well today"

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

--> '''Helo''': They tried to live with us on New Caprica.
--> '''Roslin''': What did you say?
--> '''Helo''': They tried to live with us on New Caprica.
--> '''Roslin''': You weren't on New Caprica. To my recollection you never set foot there? So out of respect for the hundreds of men and women of your crew who suffered through that snakepit... I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that.

[[folder: Video Games ]]
* Inverted in ''FinalFantasyX''. Devout Yevonite Wakka questions the involvement of Maester Seymour Guado - essentially a high priest of Yevon - in an operation that uses machines forbidden by that religion; Seymour coolly suggests he simply pretend he doesn't see them. When Wakka, shocked, protests that that's not something a Maester should say, Seymour replies, "Then pretend I didn't say it." This is one of many early clues that Seymour is ObviouslyEvil.

* ''TheWorldEndsWithYou'' has a section where Neku and his partner [[spoiler: Joshua are fighting a rhino Taboo Noise. When they can't seem to beat it, Joshua suddenly levitates and fires a laser at it, destroying it in one shot]] something way more powerful than anything he did before. Unfortunately, they're seen by Kariya, who notes that what he just did shouldn't be possible [[spoiler: for a player - so Joshua's playing the game ''alive''.]] He also says that by Reaper rules, he should erase them both right now - but since what they did helped him out...
--> '''Kairya''': "I blinked. And didn't see that. Too much paperwork...But if it happens again, Uzuki ''will'' erase you. Enthusiastically."

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

--> '''Aang''': I'll pretend I didn't pretend to hear that.
--> Another situation is when Iroh and Zuko are getting into Ba Sing Se, and Iroh flirts with the lady who is checking their passports. Zuko then prompts, "I'm going to forget I saw that."
* When Marge of TheSimpsons becomes a police officer, she offers to turn a blind eye to Homer buying beer for teenagers as long as he moves his car away from where he's parked it across three handicapped spaces. He doesn't, instead opting to take her hat and do a mocking impersonation of her, so she arrests him anyway.

[[folder: WebComics ]]
* In ''TheBeastLegion'' ,That's what Fyre thinks when Xeus bluntly [[http://www.thebeastlegion.com/issue-07-page-29-fire-fried/ says she's hot!]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* Someone demonstrating a home-made flame thrower was approached by an off-duty cop and informed that had he been on duty, the officer would have had to arrest the user for having a weapon of mass destruction. The user immediately yanked the fuel supply out and both pretended that it was a lighter.
* In {{Wikipedia}} it's a written rule. On the user level, offenses are excused for the first couple events without penalty, and those first couple events can happen many times if spaced far apart. On the article level, they have a number of rules and even a pillar saying in almost as many words "If it sounds right, it doesn't have to follow the rules." [[SelectiveObliviousness If we don't like what you're saying though,]] there are no shortages of rules and clauses it [[ByTheBookCop can be attacked with]].
* In 1949, soldiers of the Royal Canadian Navy staged a minor mutiny over various general grievances. In general, the naval staff were very lighthanded and sympathetic, refusing to call it a "mutiny" as that introduced various legal complications. When the commander of HMCS ''Athabascan'' was negotiating with his crew, he was given written demands; incontrovertible proof of mutiny. The captain hid the legal ''faux pas'' under his hat.

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** When Galactica stumbles across an infected baseship in which all the Cylons are dying after they encountered a probe containing an ancient plague, an opportunity presents itself for the Colonial Fleet to destroy the entire Cylon race once and for all. This could be done by taking a few still alive ones that they found on the ship, and then killing them after jumping in range of a Ressurection Hub, infecting the entire system with the incurable disease. Being himself married to the (good) Cylon Athena, Helo Agathon objects to it on principle when the Galactica command staf are discussing the option with President Roslin. Then this conversation happens:

In ''TheBeastLegion'' ,That's what Fyre thinks when Xeus bluntly [[http://www.thebeastlegion.com/issue-07-page-29-fire-fried/ says she's hot!]]

** In ''TheNumberOfTheBeast'', the protagonists ask the Governor of the UK colony on Mars how they can exchange their gold for the local currency. He offhandedly mentions how he is glad to hear they don't have any gold, being it is illegal there for individuals to own gold.

Related to CouldSayItBut. See also SuspiciouslySpecificDenial.

* In Jerry Pournelle's ''West of Honor'', one of the lieutenants comes across a private painting graffiti on the orderly room wall. He simply points out how unfortunate it would be if [[DrillSergeantNasty the Sergeant Major]] had been the one to catch him, and says that he expects to see the wall clean when he returns. He also lets pass without comment the private's explanation that "IHTFP" stands for "I Have Truly Found Paradise" (rather than "I Hate This Fucking Place").

* RobertHeinlein liked to use this one.

* In StarTrekVanguard, Captain Desai (the station's JAG officer) responds to a mission request by Admiral Nogura with something akin to accusing him of trying to punt her off the station to avoid legal trouble. Nogura replies that, as a favor, he's going to pretend the previous thirty seconds never happened.

* In an episode of ''[=~Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide~=]'', a character starts an underground reaction to the school talent contest and one of the other characters asks the woodwork teacher for advice. His reply goes more or less "I, of course, didn't hear you refer to an event that the principal has specifically prohibited."

* In ''Literature/SpaceCadet'', when Tex Jarman gets drunk in public, one of the cadet's instructors (who is sitting nearby) calls over Matt Dodson and indirectly warns him to get Tex out of there before he has to take official notice of his drunkenness.

* Subverted in an episode of ''{{Bones}}''. Bones told Caroline Julian (the DA) something and Julian said "I didn't hear that," so [[LiteralMinded Bones]] started to repeat herself louder.

* Happens somewhat regularly on both {{NCIS}} and NCISLosAngeles. Either the team needs something but don't have the time to get approval or approval would tip off the perp or Gibbs/Vance/Hetty require plausible deniability.

* A [[RunningGag recurring exchange]] in the first season of TheSmellOfReevesAndMortimer, whenever Mortimer tells a bad joke:

* In {{Wikipedia}} it's a written rule. On the user level, offenses are excused for the first couple events without penalty, and those first couple events can happen many times if spaced far apart. On the article level, they have a number of rules and even a pillar saying in almost as many words "If it sounds right, it doesn't have to follow the rules." [[SelectiveObliviousness If we don't like what you're saying though...]]

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* In RobertHeinlein's novel ''Literature/SpaceCadet'', when Tex Jarman gets drunk in public, one of the cadet's instructors (who is sitting nearby) calls over Matt Dodson and indirectly warns him to get Tex out of there before he has to take official notice of his drunkenness.

* ''MassEffect2'' - If you have Grunt in your party when you enter the quarantine zone on Omega, he'll ask if the smell of burning corpses makes anyone else hungry. If you also have Jacob, he'll drop the line.

* Inverted in ''FinalFantasyX''. When planning for Operation Mi'ihen, Maester Seymour says some things that are nearly blasphemous in the Yevon religion that he's basically high priest of. Wakka, who's a pretty devout Yevonite, says he's not comfortable with what Seymour said, and Seymour responds, "Then pretend I didn't say it." This is one of many clues that Seymour is ObviouslyEvil.

* Inverted in ''FinalFantasyX''. When planning for Operation Mi'ihen, Maester Seymour says some things that are nearly blasphemous in the Yevon religion. Wakka, who's a pretty devout Yevonite, says he's not comfortable with what Seymour said, and he responds, "Then pretend I didn't say it."

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