This cannot be explained in great detail

这事儿不能说太细 (zhè shì bù néng shuō de tài xì): This cannot be explained in great detail

On January 12, 2009 CCTV ran an investigative piece on the collection of tolls in Shanghai and Tianjin at a time when such tolls were to have been abolished. When asked how much debt for road construction was repaid each year, Liu Bo (who bears the grandiose title of “Tianjin City Civil Affairs Department Public Road Management Bureau Toll Rate Office Deputy Director”) replied, “This cannot be explained in great detail.”

Netizens who perhaps were annoyed by vague government statements and a lack of transparency latched onto the phrase which was dubbed the first “viral internet phrase” of 2009. People use the phrase in internet posts to mock vague government statements or as a sort of inside joke without political overtones.

出处：2009年1月12日，央视《焦点访谈》播出节目《广受质疑的“通行费”》。报道质疑天津、上海等城市在燃油税改革、养路费等取消后，依然坚持收取车辆通行费，并不公开收支情况。面对“天津市每年要偿还的公路建设的贷款量有多大”的提问时，天津市市政公路管理局规费处副处长刘博的回答是：“这事儿不能说得太细。”

在天涯、猫扑等论坛，一些帖子下面，常常跟有“这事楼主说得太细了，下回注意”、“这事儿我不能说太细”之类的回帖，与去年“我是来打酱油的”、“做几个俯卧撑就走”等回帖风格十分近似。在“百度知道”，已经出现了“这事儿不能说太细”的解答，并且已有网友建立“这事儿不能说太细”吧。

"What are the big internet phrases of 2009?" "This cannot be explained in great detail."

"Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" "This cannot be explained in great detail."