[jeremysmyth]

But what if I want to say "very terrified"?

As a side note, I was always amused by the number of generic superlatives available in many languages. In English, we've already got "very", and "damn" as the site mentions, along with "really", "extremely", "amazingly" and so on. In British English, you can say "bloody" or "damnedly" or "shockingly" or "terribly" or any of a vast number of other superlatives, not to ignore the crass "fucking".

My favourite has to be the French "vachement", which could be translated as "cowly".

[tptacek]

Terrified isn't a gradable adjective (it appears to be a textbook example, in fact).

[glomph]

Some of the best writing of course breaks rules on gradable adjectives though.

[Reebz]

You're then in a grey area of synonyms, it's not always hierarchical. If you're in a race for superlatives, then it's time to get creative. You could try: "paralyzed with terror".

[nmc]

Keep in mind that, however "vachement" may sound, it is (very) familiar — almost slang.

It comes from "vache", which is the French noun for "cow", but can also be used familiarly as an adjective that roughly translates to "nasty".

If you enjoyed "vachement", you will be happy to know that the French noun "bœuf" (the second letter is made of an O and an E), which became "beef" in English, can also be used familiarly as an adjective meaning something along "intense".

[gruseom]

How interesting that the French use food for superlatives. Do we have anything like that in English? It feels weird to me, so I'm guessing no.

[bane]

Not all that common, but sometimes.

"He's quite the meat head."

"He's an old salt."

"Her personality was rather spicy."

"He's a chicken."

"Don't be a fruit."

"Talking to her is like talking to a vegetable."

"She's such a potato."

"He's pretty corny around executives."

"That guy is a rotten egg."

"Her mind is like a pretzel."

"She was such a cute pumpkin."

"He's such a pig."

"He's nuts."

"What a cow."

[gruseom]

Those aren't superlatives. We'd need to find something like "wicked" or "sick", but from food. The ones I can think of all come from religion or sex.

[bane]

Good point. I can't think of any example off hand.

[Flenser]

"any more would be gravy"

(although that's from old French, like a lot of English food words)

[ozh]

such translation! cowly awesome!

[cgriswald]

Indeed. I enjoyed it ever so much.