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Glite Dictionary
to go all goo-goo

to go all goo-goo

9.9
To act silly and very loving when you see something cute
  • phrasal verb
  • Informal
: ponerse meloso
  • Whenever she sees a baby animal, she goes all goo-goo and starts cooing.

Examples

  • He went all goo-goo over his girlfriend's romantic note.

  • Did you see how he goes all goo-goo when he sees kittens?

  • Don’t go all goo-goo just because you got a compliment from your boss.

  • Look at her going all goo-goo over that baby!

  • Whenever she sees a baby animal, she goes all goo-goo and starts cooing.

  • Look at her going all goo-goo over that baby!

  • Did you see how he goes all goo-goo when he sees kittens?

Synonyms

to fall all over
vsto go all goo-goo
  • Informal
10 7.6

To praise or thank someone too much and show strong liking for them

focuses on silly overly affectionate behavior especially when reacting to something cute
to gush over
vsto go all goo-goo
5 7.0

Praise a person or thing in a very excited way

acts silly and overly affectionate especially when reacting to something cute
gushing
vsto go all goo-goo
3 6.6

Giving praise in a way that sounds too excited and not honest

shows silly excessive affection especially as a reaction to something cute

Antonyms

reserved
29 3.7

Not willing to show feelings or talk much

How Affectionate

to swoon
26 7.7
to go all goo-goo
  • Informal
9.9
to coo
35 5.5
to smile
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

go all goo-goo infinitive
going all goo-goo present participle
goes all goo-goo third person singular
went all goo-goo past
gone all goo-goo past participle

Morphology

go + all + goo-goo

Although the pattern 'go all X' transparently signals a change into a state, the critical element 'goo-goo' is baby-talk/onomatopoeic and not semantically analyzable from known lexical parts. A B1 learner who knows 'go' and 'all' but not the idiomatic sense of 'goo-goo' cannot derive 'behave silly or excessively affectionate', so the expression is unpredictable and language-specific.

Etymology

The phrase go all goo-goo comes from the soft baby-talk sounds like goo-goo ga-ga that people make for infants. When someone 'goes all goo-goo' they behave like a person who coos and smiles at something cute, so it means 'to behave in a silly or very affectionate way'.