hit like a ton of bricks vs startle

hit like a ton of bricks

verb

  • To have a sudden and significant impact. 

startle

verb

  • To move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start. 

  • To excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension; to frighten suddenly and not seriously; to alarm; to surprise. 

noun

  • A sudden motion or shock caused by an unexpected alarm, surprise, or apprehension of danger. 

How often have the words hit like a ton of bricks and startle occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )