# I haven't the foggiest idea!



## Chaska Ñawi

This is more of a linguistic than a cultural question, but I don't know where else to post it.

In English, when somebody knows nothing about something, we say such things as:

She hasn't the foggiest idea / the faintest idea / the remotest idea ...
She hasn't a clue about ....

In Spanish, I've heard "no tiene la mas palida idea ....." - He doesn't have the palest idea.

What expressions do you have in your own languages to express total ignorance?

Quelles expressions est-qu'on utilise pour decrire cette faute d'idee?

Cuales modismos hay en tu lengua para describir el idea de no saber nada de algo?


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## zaby

In French you can say

Je n'ai pas la moindre idée (I haven't the slightest idea)
Je n'ai pas l'ombre d'une idée (I haven't the shadow of an idea)
Je n'ai pas le début d'une idée (I haven't the beginning of an idea)

and they are probably other expressions


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## Hakro

In Finnish we say:
"I don't have the grayest idea..."
(if it's possible to have the superlative form of 'gray' in English)


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## ampurdan

No había oído lo de la "pálida idea", pero supongo que debe de decirse así en algún lugar.

Por donde yo vivo, se puede oír:

"No tengo ni idea", que se abrevia como respuesta a "ni idea"; 
"no tengo la menor idea" 
o la más común y menos recomendable: "no tengo ni puta idea", que se abrevia en las respuestas a "ni puta idea" o "n.p.i.".


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## Chaska Ñawi

Y ahora es seguro que, ahora me has dicho esto de n.p.i., algún dia yo voy a hablar con una vieja decente y poder solamente contestar a su pregunta con "ni puta idea"!

La "pálida idea" se oiga en Argentina, y probablamente en los paises vecínos.


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## annettehola

*Danish:*

"Jeg er fuldstaendig blank" = "I'm totally blank"
"Aner det ikke!" = "Not a clue!"
"Klappen er gaaet/gik ned" = "My mind is blank" (but it is not a literal translation, it is only to say what it means)
"Ikke den fjerneste idé" = "Not the remotest idea"
- are the most current ones.

Annette


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## parakseno

Romanian:

"Nu am nici cea mai vagă idee" - I don't have the "vaguest"/faintest idea.


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## Saoul

Ciao! 
Italian:

Non ne ho la più pallida idea!


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## Outsider

*Portuguese:*

_Não faço a menor ideia.
_Lit. I haven't the smallest idea.

_Não faço a mínima ideia.
_Lit. I haven't the tiniest ideia.

_Sei lá._
Lit. I don't know. (emphatic)


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## betulina

Chaska Ñawi said:
			
		

> La "pálida idea" se oiga en Argentina, y probablamente en los paises vecínos.



Quizá viene de aquí: 



> Italian:
> 
> Non ne ho la più pallida idea!



En catalán, una posibilidad:

No en tinc ni la més remota idea!


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## Tino_no

Another option in spanish:

"No tengo ni la más remota idea"


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## elroy

*In colloquial Palestinian Arabic:*

*ما عنديش فكرة* _(ma 'indiish fikra)_ - I have no idea.
*شو بعرّفني* - (_shub'arrifni)_ - What would make me know.
*أنا عارف؟* - (_ana 'aaref?)_ - Do I know?
[feminine *أنا عارفة؟* _(ana 3aarfe_?)] 

The second and third one are rhetorical.
The reason I didn't place a question mark after the second one is that, although it is technically a question, it is not intonated as one.


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## Outsider

elroy said:
			
		

> (_ana 'aaref?)_ - Do I know?


That's interesting, because the Portuguese phrase _Sei lá(?)_ can also be interpreted that way. As a matter of fact, I've just remembered another one which is just like it: _E eu sei?_, "And I know?"


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## Elieri

Swedish:

Jag har inte den blekaste aning (lit: I haven't the palest idea)


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## elroy

Outsider said:
			
		

> That's interesting, because the Portuguese phrase _Sei lá(?)_ can also be interpreted that way. As a matter of fact, I've just remembered another one which is just like it: _E eu sei?_, "And I know?"


 
How exactly does "sei lá" parse?

You said earlier that it literally means "I don't know" (emphatically) but then you said that it can be interpreted as a rhetorical device (similar to the Arabic "do I know?").  

Can you explain the sytactical breakdown further?


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## Outsider

I'm sending you a private message, Elroy.


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## Josh_

elroy said:
			
		

> *In colloquial Palestinian Arabic:*
> 
> *ما عنديش فكرة* _(ma 'indiish fikra)_ - I have no idea.
> *شو بعرّفني* - (_shub'arrifni)_ - What would make me know.
> *أنا عارف؟* - (_ana 'aaref?)_ - Do I know?
> [feminine *أنا عارفة؟* _(ana 3aarfe_?)]
> 
> The second and third one are rhetorical.
> The reason I didn't place a question mark after the second one is that, although it is technically a question, it is not intonated as one.


In Egyptian Arabic (I don't know about other dialects) if you want to add extra emphasis like you could say:

ma3andiish fikra khaaliS

...which, idiomatically, would be equivalent to I haven't the foggiest idea; I have absolutely no idea.



> *شو بعرّفني* - (_shub'arrifni)_ - What would make me know.


 In Egyptian it would be:

*أَيش عرفني*
eesh 'arrafni
which means something like 'how would I know' or even stronger like 'how the heck would I know.'


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## macta123

In Hindi and Urdu
Muchey bilkul bhi andaza nahin hain


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## Chaska Ñawi

Could you translate that, please?  I'm looking looking at the literal meanings, not just the words.

This has been really surprising to me so far.  I'd wondered whether "colouring" our ideas or depth of knowledge was something restricted to a couple of romance languages.  Instead it turns out that quite a few languages have the idea of "foggy" or "pale" or "grey".

There goes another set of assumptions!

Many thanks to everyone who's responded so far.


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## Outsider

So, that's what you were up to. 

Then I should probably add that I have heard the phrase _Não tenho a mais pálida ideia_, "I haven't the palest idea", in Portuguese. However, it's usually snobbish upper class ladies who say it. Most of us would never use it. It sounds ridiculously pretentious, and kind of effeminate.


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## Chaska Ñawi

This reminds me of another version in English:  I haven't the dimmest idea.

Basically, we're still categorizing our ideas in terms of intensity and/or colour.

(Think of the other end of the concept of intensity:  a bright idea.)


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## amikama

Hebrew:

אין לי מושג - I have no idea
אין לי שמץ של מושג - I have no shred of idea



			
				elroy said:
			
		

> *أنا عارف؟* - (_ana 'aaref?)_ - Do I know?


Also in the Israeli slang (?אנא עארף).


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## elroy

Josh Adkins said:
			
		

> ma3andiish fikra khaaliS


The Palestinian equivalent of that would be "ma3indiish fikra *bilmarra*" (bilmarra = khalliS), but you won't hear that too often.


> *إيش عرفني*
> eesh 'arrafni


We say this too, except that we're more likely to say *شو* than *إيش*:
*شو عرّفني*


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## Whodunit

German:

Ich habe nicht die leisteste Ahnung.


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## Chaska Ñawi

Would you translate that, please?  I THINK it's "I don't have the least idea"....


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## Whodunit

Chaska Ñawi said:
			
		

> Would you translate that, please? I THINK it's "I don't have the least idea"....


 
Literally, that means "I don't have the most silent idea". It doesn't make sense in English. 

"leiseste" ist the superlative of "leise" (silent).


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## alc112

Chaska Ñawi said:
			
		

> La "pálida idea" se *oye* en Argentina, y probablamente en los paises vecínos.


 
Sí!!
We say "no tengo ni la más pálida idea". It's very emphatic.
By the way, that translation with p**a is very very coloquial, you shouldn't say it to an old lady .


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## Cinemania

The German equivalent is:

Ich habe keinen blassen Schimmer - I haven't got the palest gleam


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## cameo

我一點都不知道 - Chinese, I don't know a tiny bit of it.


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## berty bee

In hungarian: Lila gőzöm sincs.  (Construing /slang/: I have any violet steam.)


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## optimistique

In Dutch you would say:

*Ik heb geen flauw idee -* I don't have a faint(???) idea. 

and one I like very much:

*Al sla je me dood. - *Even if you beat me to death (meaning: even then I wouldn't be able to give you an answer).


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## Flaminius

Japanese: 知るもんか。 Shirumonka. From a rhetorical question, "shirumonoka."  It also connotes, "I don't care."


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## LanceKitty

In the *Philippines* (in tagalog) we would formally say:

*Hindi ko alam.*
*Ewan.*
(I don't know)

For exaggeration, we say;

*Aba, malay ko!*
(Lit. Hey, my conscious!)  
Basically, it's like saying, "how should I know?"


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## Bienvenidos

*Farsi: *Wullahga buffomum!
          (There's no way that I'd know! I'd never know it!)

*Bien*


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## elroy

optimistique said:
			
		

> In Dutch you would say:
> 
> *Ik heb geen flauw idee -* I don't have a faint(???) idea.


 
In Englsh we often say "I don't have the faintest idea."


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## Maja

In Serbian we say: "Nemam predstavu" or "Nemam pojma" (informal) which means "I  have no idea!"

Pozdrav!


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## linguist786

*Hindi:*

"Mujhe bilkul andaazaa hi nahin hai" (literally: "i just have absolutely no thought")

*Gujarati:*

"Manai bilkul khabar jaj nathi" (literally: "i absolutely do not know")

OR EVEN:

"Manai ek zaraak pan khabar nathi" (I do not even know a little bit)

one thing my dad tends to say (in Gujarati), which i always find funny, is:

"Maaraa farishtaa pan nathi jaurtaa"
("My angels do not even know") - because in Islam, we believe everyone has two angels by them all the time - one on their left shoulder and one on their right. The one on the right writes your good deeds, and the one on the left the bad deeds, which is where the phrase comes from. It's very very emphatic though lol - used when you really want to be defensive!)


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## Outsider

linguist786 said:
			
		

> "Maaraa farishtaa pan nathi jaurtaa"
> ("My angels do not even know")


"Even my angels don't know" might be a better translation.


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## linguist786

Outsider said:
			
		

> "Even my angels don't know" might be a better translation.


not necessarily. I actually think mine is better.
"My angels don't even know" is better than "Even my angels don't know"

Actually.. they're both the same really. oh well, it got the message across, didn't it?!


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## panjabigator

In Hindi/Urdu:  Mera kuchh pata hi nahii
in Punjabi:  menuu kuchh pala nahii peaa


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## linguist786

panjabigator said:
			
		

> In Hindi/Urdu: Mera kuchh pata hi nahii


I think you mean "maine" (मैने)


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## panjabigator

Mujhe**  Maine is incorrect, but in New Delhi, the Punjabi people use it.


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## Aur0n87

German:

 Ich habe nicht einen/den Hauch von einer Ahnung.
_"I don't have a ghost of an idea."_ or literally: "I don't have a/the breath of an idea."


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## Abbassupreme

Iranian Persian:
"Man chemidunam!" or "Chemidunam!"


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## karuna

Latvian:

(Man) nav ne jausmas!
_Man _(dative of _es_) = For me 
_nav_ = is not
_ne_ = no (for emphasis; "not even")
_jausmas _(genitive from _jausma_)_ = _hunch, inkling. _Jausma _is used only in this expression. In other contexts the word _nojausma _is used.


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## Chazzwozzer

*Turkish:*
*En küçük fikrim bile yok! *_(I don't even have the least idea!)_


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## Aurin

Cinemania said:


> The German equivalent is:
> 
> Ich habe keinen blassen Schimmer - I haven't got the palest gleam


 
Also the superlative:
Ich habe nicht den blassesten Schimmer.


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## jonquiliser

Elieri said:


> Swedish:
> 
> Jag har inte den blekaste aning (lit: I haven't the palest idea)



YOu can also hear "blekblåaste" (sounds more common to me), i.e. "(jag har) inte den blekblåaste aning" (aprox. "haven't got the most pale shade of blue of an idea"), or, the most common thing to say is simply "(jag har) ingen aning". 

I really like this all-languages-threads!! Now I can go to so many places and say I haven't got a clue


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## Nunty

amikama said:


> Hebrew:
> אין לי מושג - I have no idea
> אין לי שמץ של מושג - I have no shred of idea
> 
> Also in the Israeli slang (?אנא עארף).


We also say the same thing in Hebrew in Israeli slang:אני יודע? ani yode'a? (Do I know?) Female form:אני יודעת? ani yoda'at?


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## DrWatson

Hakro said:


> In Finnish we say:
> "I don't have the grayest idea..."
> (if it's possible to have the superlative form of 'gray' in English)



Another one that's used is *"Ei mitään hajua"* (=lit. not any smell)


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## Marga H

optimistique said:


> *Al sla je me dood. - *Even if you beat me to death (meaning: even then I wouldn't be able to give you an answer).


Similar in Polish:* Zabij mnie, ale nie wiem.*
But most frequent are expressions :
*Nie mam pojęcia  *I have no idea
*Nie mam najmniejszego pojęcia *I haven't got the smallest idea
*Nie mam zielonego pojęcia  *I haven't got the green idea (familiar)
*Nie mam bladego pojęcia *I haven't got the pale idea (familiar)
It is funny but it is impossible not to have the foggy idea but you can have it if you  know a bit about something. You can say: Mam o tym ( jedynie ) mgliste pojęcie.


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## Lugubert

jonquiliser said:


> YOu can also hear "blekblåaste" (sounds more common to me), i.e. "(jag har) inte den blekblåaste aning" (aprox. "haven't got the most pale shade of blue of an idea"), or, the most common thing to say is simply "(jag har) ingen aning".


Agree for compressed Swedish: _Ingen aning! _'´aven´t the faintest!!'.


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## akéfa

optimistique said:


> In Dutch you would say:
> 
> *Ik heb geen flauw idee -* I don't have a faint(???) idea.
> 
> and one I like very much:
> 
> *Al sla je me dood. - *Even if you beat me to death (meaning: even then I wouldn't be able to give you an answer).



Yeah, or you could just say: "_Geen flauw idee_". However, I personally tend to use the following expression more often:

"*Ik heb er geen flauw benul van.*" 

or simply: "_Geen flauw benul!_"


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## Thomas1

elroy said:


> *[...]**أنا عارف؟* - (_ana 'aaref?)_ - Do I know?
> [feminine *أنا عارفة؟* _(ana 3aarfe_?)]
> 
> The second and third one are rhetorical.
> The reason I didn't place a question mark after the second one is that, although it is technically a question, it is not intonated as one.


 


Outsider said:


> That's interesting, because the Portuguese phrase _Sei lá(?)_ can also be interpreted that way. As a matter of fact, I've just remembered another one which is just like it: _E eu sei?_, "And I know?"


We have something similar in Polish too:
_Czy ja wiem? _-- Do I know?
or
_A bo ja wiem? --_ And do I know?


Tom


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## coconutpalm

cameo said:


> 我一點都不知道 - Chinese, I don't know a tiny bit of it.


And in Northern-Eastern dialect:我啥都不知道！wo3 sha2 dou1 bu4 zhi1 dao4!
In Pekingnese mandarin: 我一点儿都不知道 wo3 yi1 dian3 e' dou1 bu4 zhi1 dao4!

And if you want to emphaise you don't know *anything* of it:
我*什么*都不知道。wo3 shen2 me dou1 bu4 zhi1 dao4.
Or if you are cornered: you might add 真的zhen1 de before 啥/一点/一点儿/什么, and this time 真的is emphasized.


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## Lillita

berty bee said:


> In hungarian: Lila gőzöm sincs. (Construing /slang/: I have any violet steam.)


 
Well, yes, this is one way to approach the matter but you can also say:
_*Fogalmam sincs.* ~ (No idea.)_
_*A legcsekélyebb fogalmam sincs.* ~ (I don't have the slightest/faintest idea)_
_*Gőzöm sincs.* ~ (No idea.) Literally: "I don't even have steam."_
_*Halvány lila gőzöm sincs. *~ (I don't have the slightest/faintest idea.) Literally: "I don't even have pale violet steam."_
_*Halvány lila ibolyám sincs. *~ (I don't have the slightest/faintest idea.) Literally: "I don't even have a pale purple violet."_


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## CyberSetan

Malay language:

"I haven't the foggiest idea!" = "Aku sikit pun tak tahu"

Aku = I / me

sikit = little

pun = also

tak (short form of "tidak") = no

tahu = know


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## apmoy70

Greek:
*«Δεν έχω την παραμικρή ιδέα»* [ðen ˈexo tiɱ͜ baɾamiˈkri iˈðe.a] --> _I don't have the tiniest idea_

-The adj. is *«παραμικρός, -κρή, -κρό»* [paɾamiˈkros] (masc.), [paɾamiˈkri] (fem.), [paɾamiˈkro] (neut.) --> _minute, tiniest, smallest_ < Byz.Gr. adj. *«παραμικρός, -κρά, -κρόν» paramikrós* (masc.), *paramikrá* (fem.), *paramikrón* (neut.) --> _tiniest, smallest, minute_ < Classical preposition & adverb *«πάρα & παρά»** pắră & părắ* + Classical adj. *«μῑκρός, -κρά, -κρόν»** mīkrós* (masc.), *mīkrā́* (fem.), *mīkrón* (neut.).

-MoGr fem. *«ιδέα»* [iˈðe.a] --> _idea_ < Classical fem. *«ἰδέᾱ» ĭdéā* --> _appearance, form, (philosophical terminology) idea, prototype, category_, a deverbative abstract from the Αοrist II infinitive *«ἰδεῖν» ĭdeî̯n* (lexical form *«εἶδον» eî̯dŏn*), of the v. *«ὀράω/ὀρῶ»** ŏrắō* (uncontracted)/*ŏrô* (contracted).


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## Dymn

Apart from the ones mentioned in #4 and #11, in *Spanish*, there's also (the totally informal) _no tengo ni pajolera idea_, which is very idiomatic because I've never heard this word in any other context . Then recently I've also heard it shortened to: _no tengo ni pajo_.


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## Messquito

Chinese: 我渾然不知。
我＝I
渾=foggy, murky
渾然=completely
不=no
知=know


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## franknagy

Hungarian:
Halvány gőzöm sincs | Halvány lila gőzöm sincs = I have not got a pale (lilac) steam.


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## ilocas2

one from Czech:

Nemám páru. - I don't have steam.

It's like in Hungarian, but the difference is that there is not a colour in it.


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## Messquito

If you want to say you know nothing about a fact, 我渾然不知, is what you say, which has been covered up there.
If you want to say you understand nothing about an information, you say:
我毫無頭緒。
毫 extremely little
無 have none
頭 head
緒 thread
頭緒 lit. head thread=thread end
"Having no thread end." means you have no clues, just like when you have a ball of messed up yarn and can't find a thread end to pull.

我一頭霧水。
一 lit. one=the whole
頭 head
霧 fog
水 water
"Have fog and water in your whole head." means your mind is very messed up trying to figure out something.


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

We can omit "idea": "I haven't the foggiest/(slightest)." Maybe "You got me!" 
It.: "Non he ho la minima idea.", too (I think).
Fr.: "(Je n' ai) Aucune idée!"


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