bend one’s ear vs insinuate

bend one’s ear

insinuate

verb
  • To hint; to suggest tacitly (usually something bad) while avoiding a direct statement. 

  • To creep, wind, or flow into; to enter gently, slowly, or imperceptibly, as into crevices. 

  • To ingratiate; to obtain access to or introduce something by subtle, cunning or artful means. 

How often have the words bend one’s ear and insinuate occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )