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#40659 09/04/01 08:36 AM
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Anyone else familiar with the derogatory usage? (of Brownie Points)
To me (in UK) the phrase Brownie points is neutral, with any positive or derogatory implications provided by context, tone, etc.
"He's too busy collecting Brownie Points to do anything really useful", or "Doing a good job on this won't get you a bonus directly, but it will add to your Brownie points".
Rod


#40660 09/04/01 08:44 AM
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>To me (in UK) the phrase Brownie points is neutral

I agree. I rely on friends for child-care from time to time and feel that I have to have enough brownie points in hand to feel able to ask them. It just means that I don't want to take more than I give.

I don't think Brownies do get points, they get badges but I guess that is where it comes from.


#40661 09/04/01 01:05 PM
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A) Welcome back, Jo.

2) It never occurred to me that brown-nose and brownie points weren't connected, but then I never was in the Brownies®.

Þ) Used to have a certain affection for the baseball team.
I've even eaten some, regular and magic ones.


#40662 09/04/01 07:32 PM
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For UK usage of brownie points as a belittling term, see
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_765000/765184.stm


#40663 09/04/01 09:12 PM
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In French Canada we have Girl Guides and Boy Scouts, and Brownies definitely get points. Mind you, I was a Brownie many moons ago and that whole system may have changed at the same time as the postman became a letter carrier.

When is Bean back? I'd would be nice to get her input for English Canada - plus she is younger than I, so she may just throw my whole explanation a kilter


#40664 09/05/01 02:00 AM
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I don't really have anything to add to what has been posted by my learned friends. I would like to point out what a blessing new, colorful expressions are. Can you imagine a small group standing around the water cooler in the office and someone saying, "Oh, yes, that Eustace. What an obsequious sycophant he is!"


#40665 09/05/01 11:36 AM
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For UK usage of brownie points as a belittling term, see
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_765000/765184.stm


yeahbut®

They were using this as an ironic pun on the politician's name, not, I think, as a derogatory usage.

The way I would define typical UK usage of this term is neutral in itself, but sometimes with an ironic context. In a similar fashion with another neutral term I might say:
"Margaret is very pretty" (neutral descriptive phrase)
or:
"Margaret is very pretty....!" (subtext: "but she's a complete airhead!"

The context will convey your attitude as to whether the brownie points in question are admirable or pathetically egregious.


#40666 09/05/01 03:35 PM
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"Oh, yes, that Eustace. What an obsequious sycophant he is!"
Oh, Bob! I love it! I nearly pulled a bel and sprayed my keyboard! Oh, DO tell me you have done that sometime, won't you? Oh, every time I read it, I laugh harder!


#40667 09/05/01 03:47 PM
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[just because I've got this cluttering up my drive and have little use for it]

minion
toady
lackey
lickspittle
bootlicker
claque
myrmidon
factotum
sycophant
truckler
panderer
fawner
flunky
stooge
kowtower
groveler
apple-polisher
brown-nose
kiss-ass
pickthank (archaic)
toadeater (archaic)
tufthunter
earwig
clawback
limberham (archaic)
running dog
Gnatho [gnathonic, obs]
smooger

[suggestions welcomed]


#40668 09/05/01 04:04 PM
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A glorious list, tsuwm! I particularly like "smooger."

As to factotum - I haven't typically heard this with the connotation of obsequious sycophant, but rather in the sense of "one who does a little bit of everything" from the Latin fare + totum.

Do others hear the negative connotation in this?


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