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WotD: Brownie points
Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m trying to earn some brownie points”?
Brownie points is a common North American term for the praise, approval, or rewards from someone, often from a boss, teacher, or friend, for doing something good.
When you earn brownie points, you do something extra to make someone happy or to be in their good books.
Brownie points probably come from the points awarded to members of the “Brownies,” a junior group in the Girl Scouts.
Brownies would get points for doing good deeds or helpful actions.
Over time, people started using brownie points as a ubiquitous term for trying to gain favour by helping or being nice.
Let’s look at some examples of how to use brownie points in daily life.
If you help your teacher clean the classroom, you might say, “Maybe I’ll get some brownie points for helping.”
If your friend brings coffee for everyone at work, they are earning brownie points with their coworkers.
Parents sometimes tell their children, “That will earn you some brownie points!” when they do their chores without being asked.
I probably don’t need to say this, but brownie points are not real points.
You can’t spend them or collect them.
It’s more like social credit, helping you build a good reputation with others and being rewarded with smiles, thanks, or approval.
Some people even try to earn extra brownie points by going the extra mile.
Before everything goes stale, brownie points are imaginary rewards you get for doing good things to please others.
Next time you help someone, you might be earning brownie points!
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 6th-grade education (age 11).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 80.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.
