fuss vs gripe

fuss

verb
  • To cry or be ill-humoured. 

  • To show affection for, especially animals. 

  • To pet. 

  • To fiddle; fidget; wiggle, or adjust 

  • To be very worried or excited about something, often too much. 

noun
  • Excessive activity, worry, bother, or talk about something. 

  • A complaint or noise; a scene. 

  • An exhibition of affection or admiration. 

gripe

verb
  • To complain; to whine. 

  • To suffer griping pains. 

  • To tend to come up into the wind, as a ship which, when sailing close-hauled, requires constant labour at the helm. 

  • To annoy or bother. 

noun
  • A wire rope, often used on davits and other life raft launching systems. 

  • A complaint, often a petty or trivial one. 

  • The compass or sharpness of a ship's stern under the water, having a tendency to make her keep a good wind. 

  • The piece of timber that terminates the keel at the fore end; the forefoot. 

  • Pinching and spasmodic pain in the intestines. 

  • An assemblage of ropes, dead-eyes, and hocks, fastened to ringbolts in the deck, to secure the boats when hoisted. 

How often have the words fuss and gripe occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )