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)
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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.