Outrageously Funny Word Dictionary :: High finned

👉 Okay, let’s tackle this wonderfully prickly bit of nautical and frankly rather dramatic, Englishness – the bafflingly specific designation:’

High Finned.

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Now, traditionally a "high-finned gentleman (HMS High Finch was actually a whaling smack! who knew?!” would refer to an Admiral. You know, a senior naval officer sporting a ridiculously tall, probably very pointy, admiral's hat. It basically meant a man of great seniority and therefore, according to the Victorian boating captains that originally coined this phrase, considerable gravitas. Think stiff collars, a permanent pursed-lipped disapproval, and possibly a very particular brand of lukewarm mutton stew. Essentially, it was a term for someone who looked like they were perpetually on the verge of lecturing you about the proper way to furl a jib. You wouldn't necessarily WANT to be described as high-finned! It implied stuffiness and an insistence that your current life choices were beneath his notice. 19th century naval bureaucracy, I tell ye! Here's why it’s so wonderfully weird: The exact origin is murky, frankly a nautical swamp of speculation. Some reckon the height of the admiral's hat was key—the higher the fin, the higher the rank. Others insist that the very cut of his coat was the defining characteristic. It's, in short, a phrase steeped in anachronism and, quite possibly, the lingering resentment of captains who just