A: This is the cafe I’ve always wanted to try for breakfast. Let’s get a table. B: How about this one by the window? A: Great. B: Oh, nah, bit too bright. How about this one in the corner? A: Looks good. B: Bit too dark. And this one is close to the coffee machine, bit too noisy. A: Are you going to keep Goldilocksing all day? Or can we actually order some breakfast? Note: This word, used as a verb, means “to do something several times, alternating between opposite extremes, taking forever to hit the optimal solution.” Goldilocks is a fairy-tale heroine who enters the house of the Three Bears and declares the possessions of Baby Bear to be “just right,” as compared to those of Father Bear and Mother Bear. Therefore, this word when used as an adjective also means “the most desirable or advantageous part of a range of values or conditions,” as in phrases like “a Goldilocks economy” that is neither overheated nor too cold to cause a recession and “a Goldilocks planet” such as Earth. |