Sprechen Sie Deutsches?

[Indianna]

No offense taken, Anne!

It actually gave me an opportinity to give you a bit of a "tweak"  ... 

And, dear lady, I've never been known to pass up any such opportunity ... 

All the best my friend,
Richard

I was going to say "Richard, you may tweak me anytime!" and then include the Babelfish translation into German (in order to stay on topic, of course )  It is: "Richard, können Sie mich zu jeder Zeit zwicken!"  Before posting, though, I put the German phrase back into babelfish to see what would happen.  It came back: "Richard, can pinch you me at each time!"  Something was definitely lost (gained?) in the translation!   

[Indianna]

. . . . Steck comes from (in this case from steck System ) wich means a system where one part fits into the other to build a construction. 

Steck comes from the verb Stecken , wich means to stick together when  I look up Steck in the German dictionary the word Steck doesn't even exist

Thank you, Michael, that is a very satisfying answer! 

. . .As macgyver points out, the word 'Steck' does not exist on its own in German. I have a vague recollection that at some point the term used in English-language catalogs for the building system was 'Plug and Click', and I think 'plug' is about the closest you can get as a one-to-one translation.

For example, a 'Stecker' is a plug, as in an electrical plug, and a 'Steckdose' is an electrical socket. In general, I think the verb 'stecken' covers the sense of 'inserting something into something else.' There are also a wide variety of German words where 'steck' is the root or base, but with a prefix attached, e.g., 'ausstecken,' which means to unplug something (like an electrical or computer cable). . .

And thank you, too, Andrew!  Your examples really help to flesh out the meaning of "steck."

[Richard]

I was going to say "Richard, you may tweak me anytime!" and then include the Babelfish translation into German (in order to stay on topic, of course )  It is: "Richard, können Sie mich zu jeder Zeit zwicken!"  Before posting, though, I put the German phrase back into babelfish to see what would happen.  It came back: "Richard, can pinch you me at each time!"  Something was definitely lost (gained?) in the translation!   

Hmmm ... 

It is sooo easy to get OFF topic ... 

However, it's sooo very nice to finally know what the heck "steck" really means ...

Thanks for starting this topic, Anne!

All the best,
Richard

[Rasputin]

Hello

Yes it is nice to know finally where the word Stecks comes from and why it was used to describe the system. System X is a bit easier to see why buy if you do not understand or use the German language it was always a bit of a mystery.

Thank you
Rasputin "The Mad Monk"