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Tuesday Word: goldilocks
Jun. 11th, 2013 11:15 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
ellesieg.livejournal.comA goldilocks is someone with blonde hair, particularly a blonde woman; this meaning dates back to the 1500s. By the 1990s it had also come to refer to an odd sort of burglar — one who breaks into your house, eats your food, takes a nap on your couch, does their laundry, etc., and then leaves without taking anything of any real value. This sense of the word comes, of course, from the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Colton Harris-Moore, also known as the Barefoot Bandit or Barefoot Burglar, was a bit of a goldilocks, although of course his fame owes itself more to his “borrowing” of cars, airplanes and boats than his slipping into strange kitchens to make himself a sandwich.
As a modifier, goldilocks means “just right,” possessing neither too much of one quality nor too little of another. For instance, a goldilocks dose is a dose of medication that is high enough to cure or effectively manage a condition but low enough that there are no unwanted side effects.
Colton Harris-Moore, also known as the Barefoot Bandit or Barefoot Burglar, was a bit of a goldilocks, although of course his fame owes itself more to his “borrowing” of cars, airplanes and boats than his slipping into strange kitchens to make himself a sandwich.
As a modifier, goldilocks means “just right,” possessing neither too much of one quality nor too little of another. For instance, a goldilocks dose is a dose of medication that is high enough to cure or effectively manage a condition but low enough that there are no unwanted side effects.
