Brownie point

American  

noun

Informal.

1. a credit toward advancement or good standing gained especially by currying favor.

---

Brownie point British  

noun

1. a notional mark to one's credit earned for being seen to do the right thing

---

Etymology

Origin of Brownie point

First recorded in 1960–65; from the point system based on good behavior and performance used by Brownies for advancement

Example Sentences

Joe Biden gets about half a brownie point for trying to tell us those things, in his incomprehensible mumble.

From Salon

He's going to need every brownie point the universe can give him, and that certainly can't hurt the ol' karma quotient.

From Golf Digest

“My most entertaining attempt to capitalize on an unremarkable height is probably my tendency to slightly underreport my height while online dating, hoping to surreptitiously snag a Brownie point or two for nimbly clearing the bar I’ve just lowered when I show up a bit taller than expected, or at least no shorter.”

From New York Times

A similar historical farrago of half-truths and wishful thinking helped convert TS Eliot to high church Anglicanism in the 1920s, so there's one brownie point for it, but as an account of the English past, it won't wash.

From The Guardian

The only other news organization named—the New York Times—gets a brownie point when mentioned.

From Slate