get blood out of a stone vs piss up a rope

get blood out of a stone

verb
  • To do something difficult, frustrating, or pointless. 

piss up a rope

verb
  • To engage in futile or impossible activity. 

  • Used as an abrupt dismissal. 

How often have the words get blood out of a stone and piss up a rope occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )