On Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:04:52 -0500, Ed Huntress
wrote:

There is a story in the news today about a Chinese company that bought
a German construction-equipment company named Putzmeister.

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.

From my vast experience of ordering beers in East, West and United
German, I summon the powers of Google and..

http://www.putzmeister.com/enu/1958-1965.htm

New name: "Putzmeister" - for master plastering.. and indeed Google
Translate says "plaster" is "putz" in German.

So, when you plaster something you are putzing around putting
something pretty much purely decorative on there, which could
represent a common origin with the slang 'putz' term.