A brownie point is an unabashed win — you get credit for trying or succeeding at something. However, getting a brownie point does not mean you get an actual brownie. But even with no sweet treat involved, there’s an interesting history behind the idiom.
Before there were points, brownies popped up in fairy tales as good-natured elves who performed helpful household tasks. You can find the use of this word with this definition in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë: “You talk of my being a fairy; but, I am sure, you are more like a brownie.” Young girls who were taught how to do household chores would earn the helpful-elf moniker.
The definition of a brownie point is “a credit regarded as earned especially by currying favor (as with a superior).” The key to understanding the origin is knowing that technically the “B” could be capitalized: a Brownie point. The Girl Scouts were founded in 1912 in Savannah, Georgia, by Juliette Gordon Low, and the group has grown over the past century from 18 members to a global organization with multiple tiers for all ages of girls and young women. “Brownies” is the name for the junior level of the Girl Scouts, for young girls in second and third grade, usually ages 7 to 9. The fairy-tale elves are the origin of the group’s name.
Enter, the Brownie point. In 1944, a Pennsylvania newspaper reported on a gathering of Brownie Girl Scouts: “The girls gave Brownie dances and sang Brownie songs. Awards were given to Lois Ginhaman and Helen Romig for attendance and Brownie points.” In the modern Girl Scouts organization, members receive patches in recognition for their achievements, not Brownie points.
Is this one local news report enough evidence to support the origin of the idiom? The mid-20th-century timing is right, and the Girl Scouts are popular enough that it’s plausible. It’s likely that the helpful reputation of the elves combined with the Girl Scout rewards to create the idea of “brownie points” for extra credit.
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