Fig.: to gain approval from another person, usually a superior

John has gained brownie points with his boss for working late the whole week and solving a bad company problem

Giovanni ha guadagnato punti con il suo capo perché ha lavorato fino a tardi per tutta la settimana ed è riuscito a risolvere un serio problema aziendale

How green is our planet? Unfortunately, very few countries can claim brownie points for their environmental performance. This is unlikely to change until the people themselves take action

Quanto è verde il nostro pianeta? Purtroppo ben pochi paesi possono dire di aver guadagnato punti per le loro prestazioni ambientali e tutto ciò non cambierà finché la gente stessa non prenderà la situazione in mano

I thought I could score some brownie points with my mother-in-law by organizing a family reunion and offering to cook a big lunch, but the lunch was terrible and the family reunion was a disaster. I'm afraid that this time, instead of gaining, I lost the proverbial brownie points

Speravo di guadagnare punti con mia suocera organizzando una riunione di famiglia e offrendomi di preparare un lauto pranzo, ma il pranzo è bruciato e la riunione di famiglia è stata un disastro. Mi sa che questa volta, invece di guadagnare, ho perso i proverbiali punti

A popular etymology is an allusion to the merit badges or six points earned by Brownies (junior Girl Scouts) for carrying out good deeds. The name Brownies, given to the young Girl Scouts by Lord Baden-Powell, comes from Scottish Folklore, where the "brownies" were house elves that performed helpful little jobs around the house while the family slept. The young Girl Scouts were then encouraged to become "helpful Brownies" and would display the merits they had earned in badges which were sewn on to their uniforms.