A person who is affectedly good or proper; a person who is uncommonly good. Maybe just a mite too good and a bit too optimistic and a tad too nice?
In an 18th-century nursery tale, believed to have been written by Oliver Goldsmith, the (Irish born) English novelist, poet and playwright, Goody Two-shoes is very poor and has but one shoe. When she is given a pair she is so happy that she tells everyone that she has "two-shoes"---hence, her name. She later becomes wealthy, in the way of worthy nursery-tale children.
Thus goody-two shoes is someone like her: properly behaved, happy, cheerfully optimistic, nice. As you might guess, the term has acquired a negative aura: someone too nice to be completely sincere.
~Merriam Webster's Dictionary of Cultural Allusions
go native:
To assume the way of life of the indigenous inhabitants of a place, often in the sense of an alien in a foreign land who adopts the practices of the place he visits. In politics or business; an outsider who takes up the ideas and habits of an institution or system different from his place of origin. This sense is used negatively of a turncoat who abandons original principles and takes up those of his new surroundings for his own advantage. It is also spy jargon for an agent who goes over to the other side.
good cop, bad cop:
A method designed to wear down an opponent by alternating a kind, compasionate approach with a harsh, unrelenting attitude. The expression comes from the police interrogation techniques, in which one police officer assumes a hostile manner while a second officer disarms the subject with sympathy.
gauntlet,run the:
To undergo a severe trial or ordeal: to be made to run between a double file of people facing each other who strike at the runner with clubs or other weapons. It was originally a Swedish term that came into English as "gantelope" used as a military punishment in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). Gantelope eventually became replaced with " gauntlet" and "running the gauntlet" means, more broadly, passing through harassment, or receiving criticism or punishment from all directions.
gauntlet, throw down/ pick up the:
To issue or accept an open challenge. It comes from the conventions of medieval combat. A gauntlet was a glove, part of one's armor. To challenge someone to combat, a knight would throw his glove at another knight's feet. The second knight would take it up if he intended to accept the challenge, in which case a jousting match might ensue.
