A tribute is a thing said, done or given as a mark of respect or affection.

Followed by ‘to’ it’s an indication of a praiseworthy quality (as an example, my dictionary gives ‘their success is a tribute to their perseverance’ which I particularly like).

A tribute used to be how miners pay was calculated and could also mean a payment made by one state or ruler to another.

Tribute was also the make of our old campervan (or do I mean model?)

A pipedream is an unattainable or purely fanciful hope or idea. You know, like the hope that when you upgrade one thing on your computer you won’t discover your printer, working practices, hair colour and country of residence are all incompatible and need to be changed before you can do so much as open an email.

Compared with that, becoming a successful novelist seems a perfectly reasonable plan.

I did know the meaning of the word pipedream, but not its origin. It comes from the visions or hallucinations experienced by people smoking opium pipes. Obvious when I think about it – presumably I never had before.

Here’s an opium poppy, I grew. I don’t need to smoke them for them to raise my spirits.

Slight means of little consequence, barely perceptible or scanty.

If a person is described as slight they’ll be slender or frail looking. If you refer to someone slightingly you’ll be treating them as though they’re insignificant. I think that’s more than slightly rude.

Historically castles were slighted to make them useless for military purposes. This kind of damage can be seen in this photo of Kenilworth.

A monolgue is is either a long speech by one person, a dramatic work for one performer or a scene within a longer piece where just one person speaks. I’m not sure if that means anyone who talks to themselves is a monologist whose monological habits cause them to monogolize from time to time, but I expect it’s something like that.

I tried chatting to this chap, but that turned into a monologue.

My writer friend Sheila Crosby shares my enthusiasm for unusual and interesting words, and suggested a few for this blog, including today’s. A clarigation, is a demand for restitution of a wrong or injury. If that wasn’t received, war would be declared! Sounds as though it should be something friendlier, doesn’t it?

Apparently clarigations were particularly popular with the Romans. Strangely I don’t have any photos of roman wars, so you’ll need to make do with a picture of some more modern fighty stuff. I’m sure we’re not going to fall out over it!

An idyll is a simple, happy and peaceful situation or period of time, or picturesque scene or incident. Often they’re rustic, rural or romantic (or all three). It can also mean a poem or other artwork which describes something so idyllic. Some of the places we visit with our van are idyllically suited to my becoming an idyllist.

Subliminal actually means something usually below the level of known sensation or consciousness. It can be useful when advertising.