My Wondrous Words Wednesday words today come from Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. To play along, visit Kathy who hosts this fabulous weekly meme over at her BermudaOnion.net blog.

First off: THIS BOOK IS SOOOOO GOOD!  Flynn has written Gone Girl in a most arresting way. It seems simple, Amy, disappears on her 5th anniversary. Her husband, Nick, will most likely be the prime suspect. But the way Flynn  tells us the story is so delicious, doling us out little morsels of info, keeping us always wanting more. We hear Amy's side of things via her diary which begins at the beginning, before she met her husband. And the husband's narrative which begins The Day Of and goes forward from there. It's riveting, I tell ya. And that's all I can say, so as not to spoil it. No wonder it's already been picked up for a feature, most likely with Reece Witherspoon playing the missing wife. EXCITING!

Okay, back to the words. And the sentences they appeared in.
Numero Uno: "rictus"  Gin martinis wobbling on trays lofted by waiters with rictus smiles. Well that certainly can't be a real, authentic smile, right? According to my Nook's dictionary (Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition)
1) the gape of a bird's mouth
2a) the mouth orifice
2b) a gaping grin or grimace
It's from the Latin, open mouth; akin to mockery.
So big, fake, open mouthed smiles?

#2: "fuggy"   I was tender and dull. Fuggy. Maybe still a little drunk. 
fug is the stuffy atmosphere of a poorly ventilated space; also a stuffy or malodorous emanation.
Origin is 1888 and the word is possibly an alteration of fog or foggy.
I think the sound of the words says it all. A dull, stuffy, fuzzy head as part of a hangover. I didn't really need to read the dictionary definition to suss out the meaning, the context made it clear. Cool new word for me though.

Last, "oubliette" Maybe it was my conscience scratching back to the surface from its secret oubliette.
Sounds like some sort of hiding place where someone would tuck their conscience when it got in the way. Let's see.  Aha! Oubliette is a dungeon with an opening only at the top. And the origin is from middle French from oublier, to forget. Makes sense. Let's throw that princess in the dungeon and fuggedaboud her.

If you haven't already, I hope you will check out this book. I haven't read either of Ms. Flynn's other novels, Sharp Objects and Dark Places, both of which are being turned into films but I surely will now!

This is the fabulous Ms. Flynn. She looks so normal but what a mind!