History Main / ItsProbablyNothing

-->-- '''[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=222203 Bump in the Night,]]''' Flavor Text, ''MagicTheGathering''

* Used, bizarrely, between two [=SWATbots=] -- who you would think would have no business having separate thoughts -- in an episode of the ''WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM'' cartoon.
** Minimum AI necessary for guard units likely to encounter crafty intruders + Possibility of differing age/experience/previous assignments = Difference in thought/processing patterns.

** Justified in that they're magical constructs with probably rather limited intelligence. Similar to babies the Phantoms likely lack object permanence, so once Link is invisible they cease to recognise his existence.

** HumorouslyHumourously referenced in ''[[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuyPresentsLaughItUpFuzzball Family Guy: Blue Harvest]]''. "Wait, hold your fire, there are no life forms aboard that vessel", "Wait, hold your fire? What, are we paying by the laser now?" "Hey Terry, you don't do the budget but ''I DO''."

* ''VideoGame/TheGreatEscape'' plays this to the point of ridiculousness. Having charged through a door and straight into the arms of a patroling German soldier, you dash straight into another room leaving the poor sod gawping after you. His words?

[[folder:Films — Animated]]

* MagicTheGathering :

--> ''"More of that strange oil...It's probably nothing."''

-->'''Noah''': Who opened that door?\\
'''Jim''': Musta been the wind!\\
'''Starbuck''' ''(Steps onto the threshold. He hears Jim's line about the wind)'': Wind?--did you say wind? There's not a breath of wind anywhere in the world!

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in the [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsArtAttack "Art Attack"]] short:
-->''[Sabine is sneaking around an Imperial base as a Stormtrooper hears her spraypaint cans.]''\\

** Also, alarms in general. If you've ever lived near a building alarm that has a habit of going off in bad weather and never deactivating again, you are unlikely to even consider that it might be something you should investigate (and will probably be fervently hoping that the building in question actually ''is'' being burgled due to their antisocial - and probably illegal - false alarms.)

** ''Manga/DiamondIsUnbreakable'': In the middle of a rainstorm, Josuke, Okuyasu, and Hayato are having a very loud confrontation with Kira that involves screaming and explosions. Standing just around the corner, Jotaro hears something, but writes it off as the rain just sounding like Josuke.

* Played with in ''Fanfic/RedFireRedPlanet''. In the first two chapters the crew of Starfleet Listening Post 204RT pick up subspace anomalies, and Crewman Yasmin Sherazi is insistent that there's something going on despite the fact the others think there's just a problem with the warp drive on the USS ''[=DeWitt=]'', a ship which was not on the schedule.[[note]]The joke being that the ''[=DeWitt=]'' is really a KDF Bird-of-Prey generating an oversize warp field and broadcasting the ''[=DeWitt's=]'' entry codes.[[/note]] [=OS1=]. Bikog gets really hyper when he insists there's nothing there. But then [=OS2.=] Kybok spots a tachyon burst in the logs and Lt. ch'Kreem decides to take the listening post's shuttle out for a look-see.

** Humourously referenced in ''[[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuyPresentsLaughItUpFuzzball Family Guy: Blue Harvest]]''. "Wait, hold your fire, there are no life forms aboard that vessel", "Wait, hold your fire? What, are we paying by the laser now?" "Hey Terry, you don't do the budget but ''I DO''."

* ''Literature/{{Hurog}}'': In ''Literature/DragonBones'', the heroes notice that [[spoiler: an alleged runaway slave doesn't behave like a slave, for example she hides her pain, which Ward (who had an abusive father) and Oreg (who [[AWizardDidIt has been a slave for the last few hundreds of years]]) know is strange because hiding your pain only provokes the one who caused it to beat you ''more''.]] They talk about it, but dismiss it as unimportant for the moment. It comes back to bite them when [[spoiler: that person turns out to be ... actually a slave, though not at all escaped, but on a mission for her evil master. And she's a sadist herself. Possibly also a masochist, which would explain the pain thing.]]

* Subverted in late chapters of ''Literature/WaterMargin''. When Zhang Shun, one of the main characters, is scouting under the walls of Hangzhou, held by rebels under Fang La, he tests the guards' alertness by tossing a lump of clay over the wall. The guards respond by talking aloud that it is probably nothing, but are in fact fully alerted, waiting for something out of ordinary to emerge. When Zhang Shun emerges from his hiding place thinking he is safe, he is struck by a hail of arrows.

* Played with in the Low German folk song ''Dat du mien Leevsten büst'', in which a girl asks her lover to visit her at her family home between midnight and one a. m. In the final verse she confidently says: "Knock on my chamber door, grasp the doorknob - father'll think, mother'll think that's just the wind."
* The father in ''Der Erlkönig'' repeatedly explains away his son's insistence that the wicked Erl-King is nearby. He blames the valley mist, the the slight breeze, and finally the tree trunks before [[NotNowKiddo the Erl-King suddenly kills the son]].

** Better yet, the Pirates and Policemen are making loud comments in the background "He though he heard a noise. HA HA!" and then join in his song "Sighing Softly To The River" without him catching on right up until the finale kicks in.

** Beautifully averted at one point, when Gordon is climbing through some vents and making noise. Soldiers down below hear him and, rather than dismiss the noise as a headcrab or something, shoot the hell out of it and cause it to fall off the ceiling. Another time a soldier hears Freeman climbing through a pipe, and responds by tossing a satchel charge into it. A refreshing case of the enemies ''not'' [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy being total morons.]]

** This is one of the more common and ridiculous occurrences in the ''Tenchu'' series. In ''Wrath of Heaven'' you can drop down on one guards head, ''snap his neck with a sickening sound in front of another guard,'' then as the guard pursues, jump up on a roof and hide, only to hear the guard pause and say "Ah forget it."

** The series in general crosses this over with heaps of ArtificialStupidity when it comes to [=NPCs=]. As the AI has improved and gotten more sophisticated over the course the series, this trope in particular has started to become downplayed, but it still extant.

*** One particular quest has you infiltrate a monastery full of ''blind'' [=NPCs=], with the goal of sneaking past them to steal a particular object. If you do something that alerts them, such as make noise, but they fail to actually detect you, they may dismiss it as their "eyes playing tricks on them"...

** Of course there are still mooks who have no special way of seeing in the dark, and they fit the trope perfectly. There is a co-op level in ''Chaos Theory'' where you can enter a room with two guards watching a sports game on TV. Shooting out the TV then quickly leaving the room results in them waldering around for a bit, then going back to the couch with a 'probably the wind' comment and watching their shot out TV. Good job guards.
** This is actually Lampshaded by the enemies: if the player makes a loud enough noise without being seen, there's a randomly-occuring exchange where one guard says "It's probably--" but is then abruptly cut off by his partner, who tells him that it's never "just nothing".

* Usually averted in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}''. If hostile guards hear you, they investigate, and raise the alarm if they see you. If you're well hidden, though, the other guards will berate the first for crying wolf.

** Oh, but it's far worse than that. Entering said building, said officer develops a nasty habit of sneaking up on people, following them behind boxes (out from behind which only one person leaves, and it's not an officer) and moving said boxes and cars. Probably for privacy. Not only that, but after said officer enters the building, you can guarantee that shape-shifter is inside as well. After all, surely a "legit" soldier pointing his finger at a not-so-legit soldier and claiming that ''This is the creep!'' cannot be wrong...

** This power is also used in a strange way by the oni Suika, whose ability of "gathering" lets her divide herself into mini-Suikas so small they are a functional mist, and give suggestions to others as subtle mind control to form gatherings (as well as send out mini-Suikas that steal food and alcohol for her gatherings). Almost nobody could figure out why they kept meeting, and dismissed the idea as simple whims of many people to do the same thing at once, although a few had the ability to recognize the mist for what sort of thing it was, if not the perpetrator or her motives.

** This is also a very odd case, where the player actually WANTS it to happen. Because it occurs in the starting zone, after specifically choosing Worgen as a race. Your character starts out human, and becomes a Worgen during the starting zone.
* Referenced to in ''Mirror's Edge''. During one of the vent sequences you can hear someone complaining about rats infesting the ventilation system.

* Used for a plot point in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'''s "Perfect Day": Max says this about the the Omnitrix acting up, but let's just say that he's not as he seems.

** Also some spooky sounds from the kitchen or street in the middle of the night -- it's ''very'' probably only a falling towel or a bird respectively; but in a horror movie you'd think "Why the hell doesn't he get the hell out of there!!??"

*** Not to mention just sounds in a place you are unfamiliar with. To someone who hasn't gotten entirely bored with the novelty of air travel, a jet liner is ''incredibly'' noisy, what with the hums and the whines and the buzzes and the clanks and thumps and beeping sounds on the intercom. The sound of flaps lowering before landing can be particularly unsettling, combined with the plane banking and turning as it lines up its approach with a narrow concrete strip at several hundred knots. Not to mention the '''very''' unsettling sound you hear when the plane gets close enough to the ground for you to hear the sound of the engines echoing off the surface.

* Averted by real life security personnel, who ideally will treat all alarms as real. [[CryingWolf Having a large number of false alarms can cause major problems.]]

* There are many people who invoke this by leaving their [=TVs=] or music sets on in the background, even when they go to sleep, so that they can be reassured of the movements and sounds instead of freaking out and jumping at shadows.

* This was the last thing anyone said to UsefulNotes/ElizabethBathory before she died. For her crimes, she was put in a room by herself and walled in completely; the only openings to the outside were small slots for air and meals to come through. She lived that way the last four years of her life, from 1610 to 1614. The night before she died, she complained to her bodyguard outside that her hands were cold; he replied, "It's nothing, Mistress. Just go lie down." She did, and was found dead at the age of 54 the next day.

* Also averted in the case of emergency services - if you call them, they have to come, and they won't be amused if there's no actual emergency. This is also why if you live on campus at university, you will get such a hardcore lecture about not pulling the fire alarm as a prank. Fire fighters will actually leave other fires to come put out a potential blaze at a high-density residence like a dormitory in order to save the most lives.

* The ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'' example, as well as the original; Tristan somehow manages to sneak up on a guard while wearing a ''full suit of plate armor'' for no well-defined reason.

* Babies. Because they're still low on memory, for the first few months you can get their attention with a toy then cover it up so that they'll wonder where it went until forgetting about it. [[CaptainObvious But that changes, eventually]].

----

-->-- '''[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=222203 Bump in the Night,]]''' Flavor Text, ''MagicTheGathering'' \\

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', the heroes notice that [[spoiler: an alleged runaway slave doesn't behave like a slave, for example she hides her pain, which Ward (who had an abusive father) and Oreg (who [[AWizardDidIt has been a slave for the last few hundreds of years]]) know is strange because hiding your pain only provokes the one who caused it to beat you ''more''.]] They talk about it, but dismiss it as unimportant for the moment. It comes back to bite them when [[spoiler: that person turns out to be ... actually a slave, though not at all escaped, but on a mission for her evil master. And she's a sadist herself. Possibly also a masochist, which would explain the pain thing.]]

* In the Grimm's Fairly Tales version of ''Hansel and Gretel'', the title siblings hear a voice from within the house, but remark "Never mind, it is the wind."
* In the Literature/SolomonKane story ''Footfalls Within'', by Creator/RobertEHoward, the titular footfalls are blithely dismissed as "nothing" by a bunch of slavers, with [[KarmicDeath foreseeable consequences]].

* Here's a fun DrinkingGame: Take a sip every time someone in ''Literature/TheMysteriesOfUdolpho'' (1794) says, "It's only the wind" or something like.

* Franchise/StarWarsLegends:
** Quite common in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'', even a few books into the series when you'd think, after constant hazards and all the times it was not nothing, people would be paying attention. Later they learn, a bit, but that just leads to more RedHerring moments.
** In ''Literature/StarWarsKenobi'', Orrin hears a sound from his office, but dismisses it as a "sand-mouse". The readers have already found out that [[spoiler:Ben is snooping around, finding evidence of his embezzling]].

* Harris in ''[[Literature/DoNotTakeTheShells DO NOT TAKE THE SHELLS]]'' insists there is a perfectly mundane explanation when he sees the strange woman disappear beneath the waves and not resurface. A variation in that he does go after her to investigate, but simply [[GenreBlindness doesn't expect anything bad to happen]].

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Series 1 had the ArcWords "Bad Wolf" turning up constantly — OnceAnEpisode, the words are slipped in somewhere[[note]]excluding the first episode[[/note]], and the characters don't notice for [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E11BoomTown ten episodes]], and when they do notice it, the Doctor claims the words are following them wherever they go... and then he immediately dismisses it as a coincidence.

[[folder:Web Originals/Web comics]]
* Addressed in the EvilOverlordList.
-->Rule #67: No matter how many shorts we have in the system, my guards will be instructed to treat [[InsecurityCamera every surveillance camera malfunction]] as a full-scale emergency.
* Agent Wyoming's introduction in ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' is full of this trope:
-->"What was that? ...Probably just the wind. Stupid wind: breaking a twig, creeping up behind me, [[OhCrap breathing real heavy-like...]]"
* ''Webcomic/CtrlAltDel'': Shows us the [[http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20121219 problem with this.]]

** Everyone's reaction to Earth raising concerns about meteor heading straight for her is to tell her to quit panicking, it's just some thing, no big deal.

* Zigzagged in one episode of the second six part ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'' mini-series. When Stormshadow approaches the Joes' HQ to steal part of the Weather Dominator, one of the Joes on guard duty asks another if he hears anything; the guy responds, "No, that's what bothers me." Stormshadow manages to get past them, to the vault, using knockout gas to disable the guards there. Then the guard outside who spoke before some of the Joes outside seems to notice, and says he's "not hearing it again" and they go investigate. Unfortunately, by then Stormshadow has stolen it and gotten away.

* Played straight in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' when anytime the plot calls on Alphonse to rescue Ed, you are almost guaranteed a scene with a giant suit of armor sneaking around.
** Let's not forget when Edward asked [[spoiler:do you think the Führer could be a Homunculus]], he and his brother busted out laughing at how ridiculous that sounded.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure: Stardust Crusaders.'' The team has been chased around the world by characters with mysterious powers that manifest in all sorts of crazy ways, they end up in a strangely lifeless town covered in fog in India, and after being rudely brushed off by a store owner, Joseph notices roaches crawling on the man's neck. The natural reaction? "I must've been imagining things."

** In the Abridged Series, it's because of the RuleOfFunny.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In one gag, Lois and Peter mention in passing the giant squid in the kitchen which they [[ElephantInTheLivingRoom absolutely ''must'' ignore]]. It promptly swats all the dishware off the table, prompting them to quickly remark "earthquake!" and "uhh, truck passing by".

* Averted in ''Franchise/MetalGear'', where guards would ''always'' check to make sure it's actually "nothing". The ones in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' would actually search every nook and cranny of the room you were seen disappearing into, and even if they don't find you, extra guards would be sent to patrol that sector.

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', episode 904 "{{Werewolf}}":

\\

One of the heroes receives a broad hint that something unpleasant might happen--any kind of bad thing, from the plans of a [[TheMole Mole]] to a debilitating disease. It could come in the form of a prophecy, an important clue picked up off a defeated enemy, an inconclusive medical test... the form varies depending on the context.

Which is why, on the rare circumstance that the hero does go after it--it proves to be a RedHerring.

!!Examples

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]

** The first time this happens in ''Film/ANewHope'', it's an Inversion. Obi-Wan uses a Jedi Mind Trick against two stormtroopers on the Death Star, and they do what competent guards should do, they investigate. Though in that case it really was nothing; Obi-Wan did it to cover his escape in the other direction.

** In ''Literature/StarWarsKenobi'', Orrin hears a sound from his office, but dismisses it as a "sand-mouse." The readers have already found out that [[spoiler:Ben is snooping around, finding evidence of his embezzling]].

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Series/FullHouse'':
-->'''Steve:''' It's probably just the wind.\\
'''Stephanie:''' Just the wind? ''Just the wind?!'' '''''It's never JUST THE WIND!'''''
* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Doomed", Giles dismisses an earthquake as "shifting landmasses". On the one hand, he ''is'' in Southern California. On the other hand, as Buffy points out, the last time they had a decent earthquake in Sunnydale, she [[DisneyDeath died]]. Buffy is proven right, as it turns out to be a portent of the apocalypse.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone'', "The Purple Testament", three wounded soldiers conclude that the "explosion" sound must just be thunder.
* In the mini-series ''Shackleton,'' after the ''Endurance'' is trapped in the Antarctic ice, the crew hears an ominous grinding sound and feels the ship move. Shackleton (Kenneth Branagh) insists that it's the result of a whale mistaking the ship for a hole in the ice. It isn't.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' had the ArcWords "Bad Wolf" show up constantly in the First Series - OnceAnEpisode, the words are slipped in somewhere[[note]]excluding the first episode[[/note]], and the characters don't notice for [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E11BoomTown ten episodes]], and when they do notice it, the Doctor claims the words are following them wherever they go.... and then he immediately dismisses it as a coincidence.
* In the first episode of ''Series/TheCrown2016'', King George VI coughs up an alarming amount of blood into his toilet, as an early foreshadowing of the lung cancer that will kill him. When he discusses it with his courtiers later, they assure him that it's probably just the cold. Although in their defence, the King downplayed the extent of the situation when discussing it with them, either out of stoicism or denial.

[[folder:TabletopGames]]

[[folder:Theater]]

-->'''Guard (seeing Ezio hanging on a wall):''' What is he doing? Bah! I can't be bothered with this now!
--> Seconds later, after the patrol passes, the nearby target gets two hidden blades in the chest

--> Rule #67: No matter how many shorts we have in the system, my guards will be instructed to treat [[InsecurityCamera every surveillance camera malfunction]] as a full-scale emergency.

--> "What was that? ...Probably just the wind. Stupid wind: breaking a twig, creeping up behind me, [[OhCrap breathing real heavy-like...]]"

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' In the episode "The Honking"
-->[Bender is in were-car form following two vandals at night, he loudly rolls over a manhole cover and quickly parks.]
-->Vandal #1: Did you hear something?
-->[They both look around then carry on walking.]
-->Vandal #2: Ah, it was probably just a golden marmoset.
-->[The were-car revs its engine.]
-->Vandal #1: That don't sound like no golden marmoset I ever heard!
* Used, bizarrely, between two [=SWATbots=] -- who you would think would have no business having separate thoughts -- in an episode of the ''WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM'' cartoon.
** Minimum AI necessary for guard units likely to encounter crafty intruders + Possibility of differing age/experience/previous assignments = Difference in thought/processing patterns.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'' plays this one for laughs, with Palpatine dismissing Grievous' clanking footsteps drawing nearer and then suddenly stopping, to the dismay of his Jedi protectors. Of course, the droid general's head appears in the window behind him even as he's delivering the line, hanging upside down on the outside of the building. One gets the impression that the [[TheChessmaster scheming dark lord]], who actually ''wants'' to be captured, plays the classic part with some glee.
** Then again, the [[LargeHam Ham is Large]] with this one.

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' in the special episode "Art Attack"
-->[Hera is sneaking around an Imperial base as a Stormtrooper hears her spraypaint cans.]
-->Stormtrooper #1: You hear that?
-->Stormtrooper #2: I don't hear it. Wait... Yeah, what is that?
* Used for a plot point in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'''s "Perfect Day": Max says this about the the Omnitrix acting up, but let's just say that he's not as he seems.
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': When Haley tries to sneak in past curfew in "Bush Comes to Dinner":
-->'''Stan:''' What was that?
-->'''Francine:''' Probably just a loud noise.

-->'''Donkey:''' It's just the wind.
-->'''Voice:''' ''Donkey...''
-->'''Donkey:''' And apparently, it knows my name.

* In ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', when Bugs Bunny knocks on the floorboards of the house that's been built over his hole, Yosemite Sam first attributes it to mice before returning to his singing.

* In the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'', This is {{Averted}} at low fear levels and {{Inverted}} at high fear levels. At the beginning of a stealth segment, the guards know that Batman is around somewhere, so they have the presence of mind to check anything out of the ordinary. Once they get panicy enough, they'll start freaking out at the slightest noise in fear that it might be Batman, whether or not it is.

* Averted in the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'', where the guards know Batman is around here ''somewhere'' and check on anything out of the ordinary. As the level goes on and they start to drop, they even start panicking at every noise.