haul someone over the coals vs tell off

haul someone over the coals

verb
  • To express anger with someone in no uncertain terms when they do something wrong. 

tell off

verb
  • To rebuke, to reprimand, or to admonish, often in a harsh, angry, direct way. 

  • To count (members of a sequence), to enumerate. 

  • To divide and practise a regiment or company in the several formations, preparatory to marching to the general parade for field exercises. 

How often have the words haul someone over the coals and tell off occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )