Old softie

Also spelled "old softy".

Although it's listed in dictionaries as describing a weakling, an emotional fool, a pushover or similar, it is most often used in a sense to pay a compliment to a person who is not that but who, despite having a gruff or hard exterior, has a sympathetic and kind-hearted spirit, a warm way of interacting with fellow humans, especially those who are experiencing difficulties of some kind.

The actor Danny Trejo always seems to take roles of tough evil villains who take no prisoners, but in real life he's a big old softie. and a really great family man.

Nobody ever accused Margaret Thatcher of being an old softie; she was a virago who wanted to be superior to everybody.

Herp

Lacking understanding. Not making sense. Nonsense.

The origin of Derp is easily found, but often wrong. Some claim it began with BASEketball, a 1998 film by the creators of South Park... which in turn led to the replacement of Chef by a Mr. Derp.

Close, but no cigar. The real origin predates 1998 by more than two decades... but Chef is a nice parallel with the original origin, which was surely the inspiration behind the name of his replacement.
The first appearance of the original was on The Muppet Show "Sex and Violence" which first aired in 1975.
The Chef in this case was Swedish. He never said anything remotely English, and spoke in a strange language that was strange enough to be almost Swedish.
Quite often he said something that often sounded like "Herp derp herpy derpy"

That is it. Pure and simple. Completely lacking understanding. Pöpcørn shrimpee. Herp derp.

Pöpcørn shrimpee. Herp derp.