Nezi wo Maku (ねじを巻く - Rolling up One's Sleeves)

When making someone/oneself improve their/one's loose attitudes, it is called neji wo maku (ねじを巻く) in Japanese.

Neji (ねじ) means "screw," maku (巻く) means "to wind something," so the literal meaning of neji wo maku is "to screw up" or "to tighten a screw."

If you tighten a screw, of course, a loose state will be tightened.

This idiom is comparing the loose state with people's loose attitudes or feelings.

It is an interesting fact that this Japanese idiom has the positive meaning, whereas the English term "to screw up" can mean "to mess up."

ねじを巻く

だらしない行動や態度をきちんとさせることを、「ねじを巻く」と言います。

「ねじ」は "screw" 、「巻く」は "to wind something" を意味するため、「ねじを巻く」の文字通りの意味は "to screw up" です。

ねじを巻けば、ゆるんだ状態が引き締まります。

ねじのゆるんだ状態を、人のだらしない状態や気持ちにたとえているわけです。

日本語の「ねじを巻く」は良い意味なのに対し、英語の "screw up" は「台無しにする」ことを意味する事実は、とても興味深いです。

• Nezi wo Maku (ねじを巻く - Rolling up One's Sleeves)
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• When making someone/oneself improve their/one's loose attitudes, it is called neji wo maku (ねじを巻く) in Japanese.
• When making someone/oneself improve their/one's loose attitudes, it is called "neji wo maku" (ねじを巻く) in Japanese.

• Neji (ねじ) means "screw," maku (巻く) means "to wind something," so the literal meaning of neji wo maku is "to screw up" or "to tighten a screw."
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• If you tighten a screw, of course, a loose state will be tightened.
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• This idiom is comparing the loose state with people's loose attitudes or feelings.
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• It is an interesting fact that this Japanese idiom has the positive meaning, whereas the English term "to screw up" can mean "to mess up."
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• If you tighten a screw, of course, a loose state will be tightened.
• If you tighten a screw, of course, it's loose state will be tightened.

  If you tighten a screw, obviously, it will not be loose anymore.

• This idiom is comparing the loose state with people's loose attitudes or feelings.
• This idiom is comparing the loose state of a screw with people's loose attitudes or feelings. (Or one's own state)

  If you mentioned it can be applied to oneself as well above, it's better to stay consistent throughout.

• It is an interesting fact that this Japanese idiom has the positive meaning, whereas the English term "to screw up" can mean "to mess up."
• It is an interesting fact that this Japanese idiom has the a positive meaning, whereas the English term "to screw up" can mean "to mess up."

Rarely do we define attitudes as being loose in English although that may not be the case in Japanese. Lazy attitude maybe ?