ARAMAIC WATCH: Here's another sign that Aramaic too has become a cultural icon after Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. From a review in the Seattle Times of what seems to be an aptly titled novel:

"How I Became Stupid"

In this pithy, subversive debut, French novelist Martin Page taps into a feeling that afflicts many of us but that few act on � that life might be easier if we weren't so painfully aware of the world's woes or the pitifulness of our lives.

That's what young Aramaic scholar Antoine believes, and he's determined to do something about it. "Intelligence," he's convinced, "makes you unhappy, lonely and poor." It also, he finds, paralyzes you by always letting you see both sides of an issue.

After earnest attempts at alcoholism and suicide (he only gets as far as attending a pro-suicide support group), Antoine turns to his family doctor � and asks for a lobotomy.

What he gets instead is a prescription to Happyzac.

[...]

The Aramaists I've know have generally been better adjusted than that.