<P> The Oxford English Dictionary conjectures that this expression could also have derived from U.S. military slang for sycophants, "brown - nosers", while also mentioning the popular etymology that derives it from the awards system of the Brownies . The term "brownie" 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 . </P> <P> The earliest published citation given in the Oxford English Dictionary dates from 1963 (when it was reported in the journal American Speech), but the term is in fact somewhat older . 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 . </P>

Where did the phrase brownie points come from