Every morning, Nicolas Turon pays tribute to his department with a funny, tender and knowing text, in the form of a declaration of love for the Moselle. He chooses an emblem belonging to history or current events and treats it in an offbeat way.
A flagship of the typically Moselle vocabulary, “Spatz” is a common German name which means “sparrow”. Hear the word sound like an onomatopoeia, as often in Goethe's language, the fault of the consonants that rub, the T with the Z, the S with the P: “SPATZ! »… The sound of a bird smashing against a window.
And if the Spatz is an adorable little German passerine bird, it is valuable in its everyday use for the double meaning that it carries in its wake.
Indeed, if the little bird comes out, it is not through the flash of a camera but through an open goyote. Spatz also means “penis”. He joins the mischievous inventory of clever words designating the male sex, thus flying in a squadron with the zizis, the zigouigouis, the popauls and the taps. Attention ! No cock, cock or dick this morning; our Spatz belongs to children's vocabulary, to Raoudi slang. At this age he is rikiki and only used to pee.
Once we know the dual identity of the Spatz, we enjoy its ornithological description: imagine that the sparrow is a small, fairly stocky bird, measuring around 16 cm long and weighing between 24 and 40 grams. Young birds are pale, colored brown and gray, while males have a brighter complexion, with black, white and brown markings. Its main predators are kitties. The Spatz meets humans widely and can live in urban or rural environments. Its numbers have decreased in certain regions, which no longer offer it the cavities and plant materials necessary for its nesting. Note again that the adult Spatz feeds mainly on wild grass seeds, but that it is opportunistic and knows how to adapt, consuming any available food. He can perform complex and unusual maneuvers to obtain his sustenance…
