History Main / IllPretendIDidntHearThat

** He spends the rest of the night guarding the vault before turning himself in the next morning. [[spoiler:This is played for laughs in the epilogue, when it is revealed that Princess Celestia [[AchievementsInIgnorance had no idea]] [[OneDialogueTwoConversations that he was the thief]], that she only knew his name because of a {{Namedar}} spell she had (because addressing her little ponies by their names always made them feel special and important), and she can't even remember his name without the spell.]]

* In the first ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' movie Rico resigns from the military (which precludes ever being allowed to re-enlist. The same day, his hometown is destroyed in an alien attack, so he begs to be allowed to fight for revenge.

* In general, the response [[RepeatWhatYouJustSaid "What did you say?"]] (or variations such as "Excuse me?" or "I beg your pardon?") to an outrageous or offensive statement is an offer to let the speaker back down under the pretense of being misunderstood.

* In the UK, a lot of fish-and-chip shops use Non-brewed condiment, a vinegar substitute, in their food since it's cheaper and faster to make than real vinegar. While it is illegal for these shops to label Non-brewed condiment as Vinegar, food inspectors usually turned a blind eye on this since it's just a small hassle to enforce, most people can't tell the difference between the two and they rather spend their time on more serious crimes.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Robb's decision to do this after one of his bannermen gets carried away with his boisterousness results in DefeatMeansFriendship.

** ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'' has a strange variation. During basic training, a recruit strikes a drill instructor. Though the instructor -- and later the base commander -- do their best to ignore this, the recruit makes it impossible for them to do so by point-blank ''saying'' that he did during a formal legal procedure. He's ''instantly'' court-martialed, found guilty, [[ATasteOfTheLash whipped]], and dishonorably discharged -- which is actually a light sentence possible only through some deft legal maneuvering on the part of the commander, because striking a superior is normally a ''hanging offense''.

* Double variant in the first ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' movie. First, it's a ''written statement'' that the authority figure ignores, not something they saw or heard. Second, the "transgression" is in fact perfectly legal and acceptable; the "transgressor" just changes his mind about an important decision. After a training accident gets one of his soldiers killed, Rico decides to quit the service. However, shortly thereafter his [[DoomedHometown hometown is destroyed]] and he decides to stick it out so he can get revenge on the bugs. Unfortunately, he's already signed his discharge papers, so he's technically already left the service.

* In ''Film/LockStockAndTwoSmokingBarrels'', enforcer Big Chris comes with an offer to settle Eddie's huge gambling debt to his boss in return for Eddie's dad JD giving up the deed to his pub:

* In ''Fanfic/ThisBites'', when first informed by Smoker, Tashigi, and Hina of their planned coup against the corrupt government, T-Bone starts walking out of the room, loudly talking to himself about meeting Smoker the next day.

-->'''Sergeant:''' Go home, Private, before I have to notice you being drunk and disorderly.

-->'''Sergeant:''' It's a good thing I can't see you doing that graffiti, Private, or I'd have to report you to the C.O.

--->'''Sergeant:''' Go home, Private, before I have to notice you being drunk and disorderly.

--->'''Sergeant:''' It's a good thing I can't see you doing that graffiti, Private, or I'd have to report you to the C.O.

** In ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'', Lord Rust doesn't ''have'' to pretend he didn't hear Commander Vimes call him an "inbred streak of piss", because Rust is so convinced that anyone beneath his station would ''never'' blatantly insult him that [[WeirdnessCensor he literally]] ''[[WeirdnessCensor doesn't]]'' [[WeirdnessCensor hear Vimes]].

** Vimes has been on the other ends of it, too, such as during the events of ''Literature/{{Thud}}'', when a fight nearly breaks out between dwarfish and troll members of the Watch over growing racial tensions. To save face for those involved, Corporal Nobbs tells an almost-plausible tale. Vimes "pretended he believed it, and they pretended to believe he believed it."

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' Captain Rex is badly injured, and is left by his men on a farm to recover. At evening he finds out that the husband of Suu, the woman who took him in, is a deserter clone called Cut Lawquane. After he gets to know Cut and his family, and fights side-by-side with him, Suu asks him whether he's going to turn Cut in for deserting the army. Rex answers that he has no choice in the matter, but then reminds them that "''in his condition''", he wouldn't be able remember the meeting.

--> '''Hatred''': You're a woman...I mean, you ''are'' [[{{Transgender}} a woman]], right?

* Happens somewhat regularly on both ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' and ''Series/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 retroactive example appears in ''Series/{{Community}}'' after Frankie, a BaitAndSwitchTyrant, shows up in Season 6 and begins threatening the main characters' [[ControlFreak control of the school]]. In defiance against her banning alcohol on campus, they end up building a speakeasy on the campus. While they think it's HiddenInPlainSight, however, Frankie reveals that she actually knew about it all along because [[RealityEnsues building a 1920s bar in the middle of a community college isn't really the kind of thing you can hide]], but just let them think she didn't because it was easier than putting up with their childish, knee-jerk resistance to everything she was doing.

* In ''FanFic/ThisBites'', when first informed by Smoker, Tashigi, and Hina of their planned coup against the corrupt government, T-Bone starts walking out of the room, loudly talking to himself about meeting Smoker the next day.

* In MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic fanfic ''Fanfic/LittleDeceptions'', MasterOfDisguise [[PhantomThief Blank Slate]] has made it all the way to the vault and is pretending to stand guard outside, dressed in guard armor. [[ThePerfectCrime Everything has gone according to plan,]] until [[BigGood Princess Celestia]] shows up, sits down next to him, and calls him by his real name.

* Comes up ''frequently'' on ''Series/{{White Collar}}''.

* In ''[[VideoGame/{{MegaManBattleNetwork3WhiteAndBlue}} Mega Man Battle Network 3]]'', Lan, expecting to find Mayl and Yai at his door (whom he had snapped at earlier and was ready with an apology), instead meets Chaud and assumes [[spoiler: he's there to arrest him for having planted fire chips across the net which caused fires and even ''sent his father to the hospital'' - even though he'd been duped by Mr. Match into doing so - To which he cops out during their conversation.]] Chaud's visit was actually about asking Lan to [[spoiler: fetch the Forbidden Program from the Undernet for the Officials, which was followed by the confession,]] and the trope comes in as a favor to Lan for helping get Chaud's father away from [[spoiler: Sunayama]] at the TV studio.

* Happens twice in the same scene in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}''. [[spoiler: Your cousin Nanako has just been kidnapped]] after your Detective Uncle Dojima [[spoiler: takes you in for questioning.]] After he recieves the news, he takes off leaving you and your friends with his partner Adachi. When the rest of your friends come as well, [[spoiler: Adachi says he really shouldn't allow everyone to be in the Interrogation Room]], but doesn't do anything to stop it. A little while after, the team [[spoiler: finally discovers the identity of the kidnapper and tell Adachi they need to go after him, begging him to let you leave.]] He then decides to leave the room.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': a minor sidequest in Hateno Village introduces you to the Horned Statue, a [[DealWithTheDevil dealer in money and power]] who apparently earned Hylia's wrath sometime before the events of the game. He mostly serves as a means to exchange [[HeartContainer Heart Containers]] for [[SprintMeter Stamina Vessels]] or vice versa[[labelnote:*]]A player with 100% completion will be three short of maxed-out for one or the other, or two short if they've completed the Champions' Ballad DLC[[/labelnote]], in a roundabout way that makes use of this trope.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

-->'''Bebe:''' (''in a bathrobe, greeting Niles at the front door after having sex with Frasier'') Good morning, Niles! What a lovely surprise! We were just bout to sit down to a big family breakfast. Won't you join us?\\

-->'''Frasier:''' Noel, ''Franchise/StarTrek'' is just a TV show.\\

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': a minor sidequest in Hateno Village introduces you to the Horned Statue, a [[DealWithTheDevil dealer in money and power]] who apparently earned Hylia's wrath sometime before the events of the game. He mostly serves as a means to exchange [[HeartContainer Heart Containers]] for [[SprintMeter Stamina Vessels]] or vice versa[[labelnote:*]]A player with 100% completion will be three short of maxed-out for one or the other, or two short if they've completed the Ballad of the Champions DLC[[/labelnote]], in a roundabout way that makes use of this trope.

** In a later episode, a friend of Carisi's who works as a prosecutor in Queens manages to get the Queens DA (who is suffering from a carefully covered-up case of dementia) to sign off on vacating a wrongful conviction by claiming that the paper the DA was signing was a letter of recommendation for the friend's law school application. Carisi replies, "I didn't hear that and you did not say that, but thank you."

** The entirety of Westeros’ nobility is doing this with Renly Baratheon and Loras Tyrell’s relationship. Officially, [[DeliberateValuesDissonance homosexuality is very illegal in Westeros]] and two men of their stature engaging in it is a huge crime. ''Un''officially, the Tyrells are a very powerful family that can very easily change the balance of power in the kingdom, so [[OpenSecret everybody just looks the other way and pretends they never heard anything]], often while making it abundantly clear how they ''really'' feel about it. [[TheCaligula Joffrey]] makes a massive political faux pas when he publicly brings it up right in front of the Tyrells in his typical cruel and tactless way.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': a minor sidequest in Hateno Village introduces you to the Horned Statue, a [[DealWithTheDevil dealer in money in power]] who apparently earned Hylia's wrath sometime before the events of the game. He mostly serves as a means to exchange [[HeartContainer Heart Containers]] for [[SprintMeter Stamina Vessels]] or vice versa[[labelnote:*]]A player with 100% completion will be three short of maxed-out for one or the other, or two short if they've completed the Ballad of the Champions DLC[[/labelnote]], in a roundabout way that makes use of this trope.

** In a later episode, a friend of Carisi's who works as a prosecutor in Queens manages to get the Queens DA (who is suffering from a carefully covered-up case of dementia) to sign off on vacating a wrongful conviction by claiming that what he was giving him to sign was a letter of recommendation for the friend's law school application. Carisi replies, "I didn't hear that and you did not say that, but thank you."

** In a later episode, a friend of Carisi's who works as a prosecutor in Queens manages to get the Queens DA (who is suffering from a carefully covered-up case of dementia) to sign off on vacating a wrongful conviction by claiming it was a letter of recommendation for the friend's law school application. Carisi replies, "I didn't hear that and you did not say that, but thank you."

* ''VideoGame/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 {layer -- so Joshua's participating in the Reaper's Game while ''still being 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.

** In a later episode, a friend of Carisi's who works as a prosecutor in Queens manages to get the Queens DA (who is suffering from a carefully covered-up case of dementia) to sign off on vacating a conviction after DNA implicated another suspect by claiming it was a letter of recommendation for the friend's law school application. Carisi replies, "I didn't hear that and you did not say that, but thank you."