(s)kasztanić

‘to ruin, to spoil, to mess up’

The verb kasztanić and perfective verb skasztanić come from the slang word kasztan (chestnut) ‘jerk, buffoon, loser, fool’, but can also refer to a situation that is the result of irrational, foolish behavior.

The words have been known for many years (e.g., they were already noted in 2009 in Miejski.pl), but in a different sense, i.e., ‘accidental or sudden defecation’. In a newer meaning, they were submitted for the Youth Word of the Year in 2017.

Skasztanić is also a euphemistic synonym for the vulgar word ‘screw up’.

Examples of usage:

[The quotations below have been translated from the Polish language]

1. I messed up (skasztaniłem) something in this example /Heard/ – /a student talking to his/her lecturer during office hours/.
2. I messed up (skasztaniłem) our match /Heard/.
3. “Kasztan” (…) the same as “yahoo”, “boor”, “sucker”. “Kasztan” probably mainly means ‘to shit’, but it can probably be extended to ‘to be a sucker/yahoo’, but young people don’t seem to say that anymore, the last time I heard it was about 10 years ago / https://www.reddit.com/r/Polska/comments/5xzhix/m%C5%82odzie%C5%BCy_co_to_jest_kasztan_kaszta%C5%84ski/?rdt=33305
4. since a rag can get scolded, can a chestnut get scolded?/ (Skoro szmata może się zeszmacić, to czy kasztan może się skasztanić? – Polish wordplay) https://kwejk.pl/obrazek/2193623/skoro-szmata-moze-sie-skasztanic.html
5. 4.The screenwriters must have loat their minds. I don’t know how, but they managed to mess it up [skasztanić] admirably
   / https://www.filmweb.pl/serial/See-2019-839647
6. 5.You probably haven’t seen him in an Italian league match, he’s a terrible defender and nothing will change that, and in attack, he doesn’t contribute much either, as he’s constantly trying not to mess things up [skasztanić], but if someone reads this or watches the match, they’ll understand #SCOPOL /https://twitter.com/konradbk93/status/1507110743698780171.