Goody Two-Shoes

This phrase comes from a nursery tale, “The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes,” supposedly written by Oliver Goldsmith, famed playwright and friend of Samuel Johnson. Whether Oliver stooped to writing children’s stories or not, the piece was published in 1765 by John Newbery, first publisher of books for children. The tale is of a child who had only one shoe. Somehow she obtained a pair and dashed about the town buttonholing everyone she me and exclaiming, “Two shoes, two shoes!”