Goldilocks attrib. connoting moderate characteristics; (specifically) Goldilocks zone, the habitable region of a planet; Goldilocks market, a safe or nonvolatile financial or commodity market. Etymological Note: From the fable Goldilocks and the Three Bears, in which a young girl finds a series of things (a bed, bowls of porridge) to be too much of one thing or too little of another, until she finds one that is “just right.” (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within ten miles. Could you do it? We take street names for granted, but these words are useful for far more, like applying for a job or...
Understanding the varieties of conversational styles can mean the difference between feeling you’re understood and being insulted. “High-involvement” speakers interrupt or talk along with someone else to signal their enthusiasm...
Some scholars also talk about “the Goldilocks principle” of getting things ju…st right. The earliest references that I know are from:
Katz, L., & Raths, J. (1985). A Framework for Research on Teacher Education Programs. Journal of Teacher Education, 36(6), 9-15.
and:
Silverstein, M. (1987). Monoglot “Standard” in America: Standardization and Metaphors of Linguistic Hegemony. Working Papers of the Center for Psychosocial Studies 13.
There’s also “The food fits the Goldilocks formula: not too good, not too bad, just right” in The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ont.: Aug 25, 1979. pg. P.7 by Adele Freedman, who used it a number of times in the late 70s and early 80s.