“Be scared stiff”in other languages

Same idea, different pictures

Each language shows fear differently. English shows its effect, a body too frightened to move. Swedish compares you to a hare, rädd som en hare, always on the alert and ready to bolt.

French gives fear a color: avoir une peur bleue, a blue fear. Why blue is not clear; it may be the pale, bluish face of someone badly frightened.