IdiomBody & Senses
French
FrenchAvoir une peur bleue
Meaning: Being terrified or extremely frightened of something.
Literally: To have a blue fear
Example: “Ma sœur a une peur bleue des araignées.” — My sister is scared to death of spiders.
English equivalent: To be scared stiff
Origin: The phrase is first found in the press in December 1846, and Littré glosses it as a very strong fear, "the kind that turns you blue." The historians Patrice Bourdelais and Jean-Yves Raulot, in a 1987 history of cholera in France titled Une peur bleue, link it to the bluish skin of cholera victims during the 1832 Paris epidemic. The link is plausible but not proven.
Equivalents in other languages
Swedish: att vara rädd som en hare Literally: To be afraid like a hare
English: be scared stiff
More French idioms
- Être du voyage To come along; to be one of those taking part in a trip or shared undertaking.
- Faire le gendarme Acting authoritarian or enforcing rules with excessive zeal.
- Faire un couac Making an embarrassing mistake or producing a discordant sound.
- Quand les poules auront des dents Never — it describes something that will simply never happen.
- Il y a anguille sous roche Something suspicious is quietly going on beneath the surface.
- Ménager la chèvre et le chou To try to please both sides of a conflict without committing to either.
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