Definition
“None the wiser” means to not understand or be aware of something.
For example – “If you hadn’t told me that the wedding was this weekend, I would’ve been none the wiser.”
“Not be any the wiser” is also an alternative to this phrase which is used.
Clip 1
Clip 1 is from the British comedy The Inbetweeners. The characters have driven to a theme park to ride roller-coasters but just as they arrive an accident causes the door of Simon’s new car to come off completely. Simon is quite upset he knows his dad is going to be very angry with him. He is desperate to get the door fixed immediately but the rest of the characters want to go into the theme park and convince him that their friend Neil, who is waiting inside, can get his sister’s boyfriend to fix it as he is a mechanic. Will then tells Simon that they can go into the theme park and fix the car later and his dad will be “none the wiser”.
Clip 2
Clip 2 is from the series Death in Paradise. In this episode, the detective offered to babysit a pet mongoose for a man named Darnel while he tried to convince his wife they could keep it as a pet. During the episode, the mongoose escapes and the detective cannot catch it so he asks the vet for a polecat or ferret as a replacement and he is confident Darnell won’t be aware that it is a different animal when he returns it.
Clip 3
Clip 3 is from the series The Mentalist. The detective is accusing the girlfriend of a murdered businessman of stealing a key that would open a container of hidden money. This is why he describes the businessman as being “none the wiser” because he was asleep and his key was replaced with an identical one.
Clip 4
Clip 4 is from the documentary For No Good Reason. In the documentary, Johnny Depp explores the life of famous illustrator Ralph Steadman. Steadman has a keen fascination with Leonardo DaVinci and in the clip he is describing how many books he has read but he feels he still does not understand a thing about DaVinci. He uses “none the wiser” to emphasise his lack of understanding.