尻拭い

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: Written 尻拭い and read しりぬぐい, it means cleaning up the consequences of someone else's or one's own mistake.
• Basic usage: It appears when a successor inherits a predecessor's errors and when a decision maker must handle the outcome.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• A blunt figurative expression
  • It evokes taking on unpleasant remedial work, not a literal cleaning action.