At many German elementary schools, children are now allowed to obtain a fountain pen driver's license.

They then have to prove that they can trace straight or curved lines with the fountain pen, using as little smearing and dabbing as possible.

Jorg Thomann

Editor in the “Life” section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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Most of the proud driver's license holders continue to smudge and smear happily until they replace the elegant but capricious writing implement called fountain pens with profane pens at some point after the end of their elementary school years.

We don't know how common a fountain pen driving license is in Great Britain.

It is undisputed that the newly crowned King Charles would have had enough time for such a

pen license

during his - as is often emphasized - 73 years of training .

However, it is not certain that she would have really helped him on last Tuesday at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland.

Thanks to social media, the scene has gone around the world: how Charles signs the guest book with a fountain pen and gets the date wrong.

Handing the pen to the waiting Camilla and noticing his ink smeared fingers.

How, while cleaning himself with a handkerchief, he swears to himself that he can't stand this "bloody thing" and that this happens to him "every stinking time". .

The brand of the leaking filler is not recognizable, but the industry itself is likely to view the incident as a PR disaster.

Certainly, the new king has had a grueling few days, which may explain his outburst at the unruly utensil.

In fact, the matter has brought him not only criticism but also sympathy: unlike his mother, who smiles away any anger with superhuman control, the new king is like us, subjects rejoiced on the Internet.

Which ignores the fact that very few of us still write with fountain pens at all.

Admittedly, adults occasionally receive fountain pens as gifts, noble pens embedded in a noble case.

Often enough, however, they stay in there.

For quick notes, you tend to use a pen or cell phone, and you might make a typo, but at least you don't smear or smudge.

If you still write regularly with a fountain pen, you know the feeling that your own words seem more serious.

Incidentally, this text was also initially written with a fountain pen;

we hope it didn't lose too much weight when transferred to the PC.