This study demonstrates that the Estonian assertion ma ei tea, lit. ‘I not know’, fullfils a particular non-epistemic function in Estonian conversation, as a way of redressing from real time impasses. It is used for quitting units-in-progress and scrapping locked topical sequences, and then eventually onsetting new ones. It is shown how maitea's meaning occurs otherwise in sequential settings where knowledge exhibitions have been made pertinent, than where they have not, and thus adds to the theoretical comprehension of meaning as situated achievement, especially when fleeting cognitive notions like “knowing” are involved.