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George Plimpton

On 3/8/2012 11:29 AM, wrote:
On Thu, 8 Mar 2012 19:06:38 +0000 (UTC), Doug Miller
wrote:

Ed wrote in
:

On Thu, 08 Mar 2012 09:13:15 -0600, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:

Ed fired this volley in
:

Now, I thought I knew what a "putz" was, and I know what "meister"
means, but I can't believe the two of them were put together to form a
company name.

I hope that someone familiar with German can explain this.

I have only a smattering of German from back in the 80s, but "Putz" means
"Put".

So I'd believe that their equipment is designed to "put" stuff... lift
it, move it, place it...

LLoyd

Aha! That would make sense. Their primary product is concrete pumps.

It would make more sense if it were correct.

And it's a big relief. I was afraid they were "masters of idiots."g

I'm afraid your understanding of its meaning isn't correct either. "Putz", as a noun, in German
means a small child; it can also mean dirty clothes (see a connection there?). In Yiddish, it's
vulgar slang for "penis".
And those concrete pumpers have one very long "penis". My brother and
I have always laughed at those trucks. The company must have known
that some americans would think of that name as meaning "Master
Penis".

When I lived in Germany for 18 months in 1985-86, I didn't have a sense
that Germans gave much thought to how Americans regarded German words.