Hello,
I need you again.
I'm reading a book: The Laughing Corpse by L.K. Hamilton.

Here is the context:
Some types of ghost seem to bear a grudge against the living. A sort of jealousy. They cannot harm you, but they scare the bejesus out of you and laugh while they're doing it.

And here is my try:
Alcuni tipi di fantasma sembrano nutrire del rancore nei confronti dei vivi. Una specie di gelosia. Non possono ferirti, ma ti spaventano da morire (or fino a farti bestemmiare) e ridono mentre lo fanno.

is it used as a saying or to emphasize the "scare" (verb)?
Can you help me, please?
thanks in advance.

 

Hi Alfry,
I think you have understood the meaning very well, to scare the bejesus out of someone means to really scare them,to really give them a fright. It's a colloquial phrase that is mostly used in American English to emphasize how frightening or scary something is. As for its origins, I'm not sure....

HTH!

C

 

thank you very much Cathy-Anne.

 

Infatti non c'entra niente con bestemmiare.

They cannot harm you, but they scare the bejesus out of you and laugh while they're doing it.
Non possono farti del male, ma ti fanno venire una fifa blu (o ti spaventano a morte) e ridono mentre lo fanno.

(L'impersonale si può tradurre anche in altri modi, che sono sicura conosci già )

 

l'idea del bestemmiare mi è venuta per il 'bejesus'.
Meglio così

 

Actually, some would indeed consider it una bestemmia... I looked up the the etymology of the word and found this: "Early 20th century - an alteration of 'by Jesus!'"

ciao,

 

so I was not that far considering it almost a bestemmia

 

So why do you think it has been altered? It goes without saying