Meaning
Notional credit earned by doing small favours or by flattering someone in authority, especially at work or school; the points are imaginary and usually said to be scored with a boss, teacher or partner. The tone is typically wry or self-deprecating, implying the effort was made to win approval rather than out of duty. Originally American. Informal and usually ironic, suggesting ingratiation or trivial reward rather than genuine achievement. Regional use: Originally American English; now General English.
Origin
The origin is genuinely disputed. The earliest example so far traced is from the Los Angeles Times of March 1951, a husband keeping score of his standing with his wife; 1954 items label it teenage school slang, and the OED's first print citation is from American Speech in 1963. Two main derivations compete. The OED, followed by Grammarphobia, calls the phrase probably a development of brown-nose, military-college slang for a sycophant recorded by 1939, with brownie noted by 1944 as student slang for a teacher's pet; the Girl Scouts organization has said it never ran a Brownie points scheme. Michael Quinion at World Wide Words instead favours an allusion to the junior Girl Guides' Brownies earning merit badges, a sarcastic backhanded compliment for adults, reinforced by the brown-nose association, concluding that two or even three threads probably converged. Other stories circulate with little or no support: demerits invented by railway superintendent G. B. Brown (the term is recorded from 1942, but in a demerit sense), brown vouchers for Curtis Publishing delivery boys, wartime brown ration points, and a Kodak Brownie camera link that the standard references do not even discuss.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- earn brownie points
- gain brownie points with someone
- score brownie points
- win brownie points
Usage Examples
- Volunteering to compile the department's recycling statistics earned her no end of brownie points with the new manager.
- Nobody submits a report at midnight on a Sunday for the good of their health; they do it for brownie points.
- His carefully banked brownie points with the committee evaporated the moment he questioned the chairman's figures.