Maira Briedis's Unusual Phrase About Coalition Causes Laughter and Confusion

Maira Briedis, a Latvian politician, made a peculiar remark when commenting on the internal disputes within the coalition between the Progressive Party and the National Alliance. He told media that the two parties are, as he put it, 'putting trees in spokes' ('liek kokus sprunguļos') for each other. The phrase is a distorted version of the well-known Latvian idiom 'putting spokes in wheels' ('likt sprunguļus spieķos'), which means deliberately hindering or causing trouble.

The unusual expression quickly drew amused responses. A man named Kārlis laughed, saying, 'It's crazy if someone puts trees in spokes for you.' Edijs added, 'Better than logs.' Jānis described it as 'a state of the soul,' while Andis suggested that the author of a video was trying to 'put trees in spokes' to prevent Briedis from entering the Saeima. Andris concluded that Briedis is 'not handling the Latvian language very well anymore.'

The correct idiom 'putting spokes in wheels' refers to inserting a wooden peg into the spokes of a wheel, causing it to stop or break. How exactly one 'puts trees in spokes' remains a mystery – known only to Briedis himself.