Brownie points
Encyclopedia
Brownie points in modern usage are a hypothetical social currency
, which can be accrued by doing good deeds or earning favor in the eyes of another, often one's superior.
(wife of their founder, Robert Baden-Powell) named the Brownies after a kind of mythological elf that does helpful things around the house.
, published several magazines, including the Saturday Evening Post and the Ladies Home Journal. These magazines were distributed to subscribers through a delivery network that used youths, primarily boys, to go around to the individual houses. The boys received a small commission, but in return for meeting certain sales targets, they could also receive company scrip
, comprising green and brown vouchers. These vouchers were usually known as "greenies" and "brownies". Five greenies equalled one brownie. The greenies and brownies could be redeemed against goods from the company's catalogue.
conjectures that this expression could also have derived from U.S.
military
slang for sycophant
s, "brownnosers", while mentioning the less likely but popular etymology that derives it from the awards system of the Brownies
Girl Guides/Girl Scouts. "Brownie" itself in the sense of "brown-noser" was in use in the 1940s. It has been suggested that the term was given impetus though its coincidence with related scatological slang, see below.
reports its first appearance in print as 1963, though the origins of the phrase predate this. Its frequent appearance in newspapers in the 1950s date back to the earliest known usage in 1951, where a man in the Los Angeles Times speaks of earning favor with his wife in terms of brownie points.
Currency
In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
, which can be accrued by doing good deeds or earning favor in the eyes of another, often one's superior.
Brown Stamps
A popular marketing practice employed by many stores in post-World War II America was the distribution of stamps with each purchase. The number of stamps given out varied with the amount of the purchase. These stamps were collected by customers and later redeemed for household gifts. The earliest of these stamps were brown in color and known as "brown stamps" or "brown points." The relationship between a purchase and the collection of these "brown points" equated with doing a good thing (supporting the local vendor) and getting a bonus (the valuable stamps). Purportedly, the collection of these "brownie points" eventually evolved into the usage with which we're familiar today. (citation needed)Girl Scouts
A popular, but unproven, etymology is an allusion to the merit badges obtained by Brownies for carrying out good deeds. Baroness Olave Baden-PowellOlave Baden-Powell
Olave St Clair Baden-Powell, Baroness Baden-Powell, GBE was born Olave St Clair Soames in Chesterfield, England...
(wife of their founder, Robert Baden-Powell) named the Brownies after a kind of mythological elf that does helpful things around the house.
George R. Brown
Another proposed etymology is that the term derives from the name of a 19th century American railroad superintendent, George R. Brown who, in 1886, devised what was then an innovative system of merits and demerits for railroad employees on the Fall Brook Railway in New York state. Accounts of his system were published in railroad journals, and adopted by many leading U.S. railroads. American railroad employees soon began referring colloquially to "brownie points", and at some point, the term entered the general vocabulary.Curtis Publishing
In the 1930s, The Curtis Publishing CompanyCurtis Publishing Company
The Curtis Publishing Company, founded in 1891 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, became one of the largest and most influential publishers in the United States during the early 20th century. The company's publications included the Ladies' Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post, The American Home,...
, published several magazines, including the Saturday Evening Post and the Ladies Home Journal. These magazines were distributed to subscribers through a delivery network that used youths, primarily boys, to go around to the individual houses. The boys received a small commission, but in return for meeting certain sales targets, they could also receive company scrip
Scrip
Scrip is an American term for any substitute for currency which is not legal tender and is often a form of credit. Scrips were created as company payment of employees and also as a means of payment in times where regular money is unavailable, such as remote coal towns, military bases, ships on long...
, comprising green and brown vouchers. These vouchers were usually known as "greenies" and "brownies". Five greenies equalled one brownie. The greenies and brownies could be redeemed against goods from the company's catalogue.
Scatological
The Oxford English DictionaryOxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
conjectures that this expression could also have derived from U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
slang for sycophant
Sycophant
Sycophancy means:# Obsequious flattery; servility.# The character or characteristic of a sycophant.Alternative phrases are often used such as:-Etymology:...
s, "brownnosers", while mentioning the less likely but popular etymology that derives it from the awards system of the Brownies
Brownies (Girl Guides)
A Brownie is a member of a section of some Guiding organisations for girls from their seventh birthday to their tenth birthday. Exact age limits are slightly different in each organisation.-History:...
Girl Guides/Girl Scouts. "Brownie" itself in the sense of "brown-noser" was in use in the 1940s. It has been suggested that the term was given impetus though its coincidence with related scatological slang, see below.
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English DictionaryOxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
reports its first appearance in print as 1963, though the origins of the phrase predate this. Its frequent appearance in newspapers in the 1950s date back to the earliest known usage in 1951, where a man in the Los Angeles Times speaks of earning favor with his wife in terms of brownie points.