close to the bone vs near the knuckle

close to the bone

adj

  • Destitute. 

  • Penetrating and relatable, to the point of causing discomfort. 

near the knuckle

prep

  • Risqué, sexual, suggestive of impropriety. 

How often have the words close to the bone and near the knuckle occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )